A further five coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Northern Ireland, taking the official Department of Health toll to 1,129.
There are also 419 new cases from tests on 1,980 individuals. It takes the cumulative total of positive tests to 58,635.
There are 429 confirmed Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 31 in ICU, 24 of whom are on ventilators.
Earlier, a senior Stormont minister urged the public to act in a safe way as Northern Ireland emerges from two weeks of circuit-breaker restrictions.
Finance Minister Conor Murphy was reacting to scenes of crowds and long queues at a Primark store in Newtownabbey over the weekend which have sparked concerns.
"There is a concern because the level of Covid is still much too high, and there are still people dying from Covid," he told media during a ministerial visit in Dunmurray.
"There is a time lag generally between a circuit-breaker and the effect of that, so we're hoping to see a more positive outcome.
"But of course there is a recognition that people need to be able to get out and prepare for Christmas. Businesses and hospitality are struggling very badly and they need to get a chance to try to make some money.
"There is also an expectation that people will behave in a certain fashion, that people will observe social distancing, sanitising and make sure that in accessing servicing and goods, shopping and hospitality, they do so in a safe way."
Mr Murphy said the Executive will meet on Thursday, possibly also on Tuesday morning to "discuss these things", as well as post-Christmas arrangements.
Acknowledging warnings from Health Minister Robin Swann around potential further restrictions after Christmas, Mr Murphy added: "The better the behaviour over Christmas, the less restrictions are required on the other side of Christmas."
Mr Murphy also said that almost £50 million in Covid-19 relief grants has been paid out to businesses in Northern Ireland.
He said officials are continuing to work through applications forms as he outlined the latest position in the Assembly with regard to the localised restrictions support scheme.
He said: "13,925 applications have been received, 7,025 have been approved resulting in £49m being paid to local businesses.
"4,198 applications have been rejected."
Non-essential retail, hospitality and close contact services were again closed down on 27 November for two weeks as coronavirus cases spiked for a second time.
A grant scheme for that period of restrictions has received more than 2,000 applications.
Of these, 497 have so far been approved with almost £1m paid out while 500 applications were deemed ineligible.
