One more death takes toll so far to 1,712 people

ONE more person has died in Wales after testing positive for coronavirus and more than 600 new positive cases have been recorded.

Yesterday’s figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) show 620 positive cases have been logged from labs in the last 24 hours, a significant drop on the 950 recorded on Sunday.

The NHS body also confirmed one more person had died to bring the death toll since the pandemic began to 1,712.

Cardiff remains the local authority with the highest number of cases per 100,000 people.

Cardiff had 266.6 cases in the latest seven days when adjusted for population, down from 270.1 on Sunday. Merthyr Tydfil had 203.9 , down from 205.5.

Bridgend was third with 189.7 (up from 182.3), Wrexham was fourth with 178.7 (up from 175.8) and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) was fifth with 163.7 (down from 183.6).

Caerphilly, the first area to go into local lockdown more than a month ago, still has more than 100 cases per 100,000 with 100.5 (unchanged from the day before).

The other local authority areas recording more than 100 cases included Blaenau Gwent with 161.7, Neath Port Talbot with 141.6, Swansea with 138.9, Flintshire with 134.5, Denbighshire with 132.7 and Conwy with 116.9.

The all-Wales overall infection rate is 128.2 per 100,000, which is down from 130.9 recorded the day before.

Cardiff, with 103, saw by far the most new cases reported yesterday, followed by Swansea with 59, Flintshire and Wrexham with 46, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot with 45, and RCT with 37.

There were also double digit increases in Caerphilly (28), Conwy (23), Denbighshire (21), Merthyr Tydfil (19), Anglesey and Gwynedd (15), Newport (13), Blaenau Gwent (12), Monmouthshire (11) and Carmarthenshire (10).

Meanwhile Powys had nine new cases, Pembrokeshire had seven, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan had five, and Ceredigion had three.

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the novel coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales supports the announcement by the Welsh Government of a two-week national ‘fire-break’ to disrupt the transmission of coronavirus in Wales.

“Although national and local measures have made a difference, further action is now needed. “