Four more deaths as number of cases continues to creep up

FOUR more people have died with coronavirus in Wales and more than 480 new positive cases have been identified.

Latest figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) yesterday show 487 new positive cases have been diagnosed following a lab test, an increase on the 467 on Sunday.

The NHS body also said that four new deaths among people who had tested positive had been reported, bringing the total to 1,673.

Merthyr Tydfil currently has the highest rate of infections in Wales with 205.5 cases per 100,000 people based on a rolling seven-day average, down from 220.5 on Sunday.

Flintshire follows at 166.6 per 100,000 of population, up from 164.0 the day before, with Wrexham not far behind at 165.5 per 100,000 (up from 161.8).

The other local authority areas recording more than 100 cases per 100,000 included Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) with 151.7, Cardiff with 151.3, Bridgend with 138, Swansea with 113.4, Conwy with 110.9, Denbighshire with 109.7 and Blaenau Gwent with 107.4.

The all-Wales overall infection rate is 103.6 per 100,000, which is down on 106.6 recorded the day before.

Cardiff again reported the highest number of new cases yesterday with 84, followed by Wrexham with 42, Flintshire with 36, Rhondda Cynon Taf with 35, Caerphilly with 28, Conwy with 24,

Bridgend with 22 and Gwynedd with 21.

Other local authorities in double figures included Denbighshire with 17, Vale of Glamorgan and Swansea with 12, Blaenau Gwent with 11 and Pembrokeshrie and Merthyr Tydfil with 10.

Newport had nine, Neath Port Talbot and Torfaen had eight each, Carmarthenshire had six, Powys had five, Monmouthshire had four and Anglesey had three.

Ceredigion was the only local authority to record no new cases of the virus.

There were 78 cases from people outside of Wales included in the figures, which Public Health Wales said referred to mainly young people with Welsh home addresses but who were currently living outside Wales.

Meanwhile, Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the novel coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, warned the public to beware of fake news circulating about Covid tests.

He said: “We are aware of misinformation circulating on social media which suggests that testing for Covid-19 generates a positive result for flu or common cold viruses. This is completely incorrect.

“The swab (PCR, antigen) test for Covid-19 has been specifically developed to detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – also known as Covid-19 – and has a proven accuracy rate of 99.91%.”