Image copyright PA Media

Another three people have died with coronavirus in Northern Ireland, bringing the total to 13.

The PHA said 34 more people have tested positive for the virus, a total of 275.

One of the patients who died was being treated at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

Earlier, a number of leading GPs in Belfast called for a "complete lockdown" to manage the coronavirus pandemic.

The doctors, who chair Belfast's GP federations, say they are "dismayed at the actions of many members of the public".

They said the effects of the illness in other countries showed NI needed to proceed "with extreme caution".

Current measures short of a full lockdown have been in place since Monday.

The federations operate in a district to bring together services and to work together on behalf of a community.

In an open letter, the doctors called on political leaders to adopt an immediate lockdown.

Image copyright BBC/PHA Image caption Most confirmed cases in Northern Ireland are in Belfast

The letter states: "Please hear and act on our heartfelt plea and move to adopt a 'complete lockdown' as we have seen in other countries, at the earliest opportunity. Time is of the essence."

The doctors, including Dr George O'Neill, said they were watching the alarming effects of the illness in other countries including Italy, Spain and China.

They said while circumstances in Northern Ireland could be directly compared with these countries, it needed to proceed with extreme caution.

They said: " We argue it would be better to be extremely cautious and wrong than wrong and incautious.

"The estimated time from exposure to null infectivity is estimated to be two-to-three weeks.

"It follows that if a 'complete lockdown' of the public was enacted, the virus could be, if not stopped in its tracks, at least significantly slowed up.

"Time is of the essence in this disease, with doubling of cases on average every five days if no measures are taken.

"We acknowledge the current advice government has given on social distancing but, in our view, this is not stringent enough."

The doctors said their concern is that in the next few weeks numbers will escalate significantly and anything which can be done to reduce the spread of the virus in Belfast communities, and indeed across Northern Ireland, should be adopted.

According to the GPs this will protect the vulnerable, support staff and reduce morbidity and mortality.

'People all over'

Dr O'Neill told BBC's Talkback there "were people all over the place".

"The parks you can't go into because there are so many people in them," he said.

"We really have to realise that in 60% of the cases the patient is either totally without symptoms or has very mild symptoms and they are wandering around spreading this infection.

"I think we are at the tipping point, over the next two to three weeks if we can close down completely we will reduce the number of cases, not so many people will end up in our hospitals and our health service will be maintained."