The tower block at Belfast City Hospital will be set aside for 230 coronavirus patients, Stormont's Department of Health has said.
Critical care capacity will also be boosted at the Ulster Hospital in Co Down and Altnagelvin in Derry. The Eikon event centre on the site of the former Maze Prison near Belfast is under consideration to further increase the number of beds available later this year in preparation for any further wave of Covid-19.
The number of deaths in Northern Ireland due to the coronavirus has risen to 30 and there have been 689 confirmed cases. Northern Ireland's health system has increased its ventilator total to 165.