Eight more die as infection rate rises

A FURTHER eight people have died with coronavirus in Wales, according to the latest figures from Public Health Wales.

New figures published yesterday, which cover the 24-hour period up to 9am on Thursday, show the total number of Covid-related deaths in Wales now stands at 6,342.

There were also 2,456 new positive cases recorded in the latest update bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 484,744.

The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales, based on the cases for every 100,000 people (for the seven days up to November 14) now stands at 512.5 – a rise from the 504 reported on Thursday.

But the number of patients in hospital with coronavirus has gone down.

The local authority with the highest infection rate in Wales is Gwynedd with 709.7 cases per 100,000 population over seven days, closely followed by Vale of Glamorgan with 682 and Torfaen with 573.6.

The test positivity rate across Wales is at 19.2%. Positivity has hovered around 19% in the past week and has remained fairly stable.

The areas of the country recording the highest numbers of new Covid cases are Cardiff with 246, Rhondda Cynon Taf 188, Swansea with 176, Carmarthenshire with 145, Wrexham with 135, Caerphilly with 127, Vale of Glamorgan with 114, Neath Port Talbot with 110 and Bridgend and Pembrokeshire with 107 each.

Meanwhile, Powys had 93 new cases, Newport had 90, Flintshire had 88, Monmouthshire had 82, Torfaen had 79, Denbighshire had 73, Conwy had 69 and Merthyr Tydfil had 58.

The local authorities recording the fewest cases were Blaenau Gwent with 51, Anglesey with 45 and Ceredigion with 23.

As of Thursday there were 722 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected, and recovering), a fall on the 744 reported on Wednesday.

There were 59 people in a ventilated intensive care bed with Covid-19 on Thursday, a drop on the 60 reported the day before.

Public Health Wales figures showed that 2,461,876 people had received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,255,461 had been given both doses.

To date, 685,249 people have received their Covid booster vaccine according to PHW, including three-quarters of care home residents (77.3%) and over 80s (76.2%), over two-thirds of healthcare workers (70.4%) and over half of all care home workers (60.9%).

Infection rate for every 100,000 people in each area for the seven days up to November 14: ■■Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

■■Blaenau Gwent: 493.8 (down from 503.9) ■■Newport: 500.4 (up from 489.4) ■■Caerphilly: 500.3 (up from 486.5)

■■Torfaen: 573.6 (up from 565.1) ■■Monmouthshire: 569.8 (unchanged)

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Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

■■Conwy: 354.9 (up from 350.7) ■■Anglesey: 349.8 (up from 326.9) ■■Gwynedd: 709.7 (up from 694.4) ■■Denbighshire: 492.2 (up from 479.6)

■■Flintshire: 411.3 (up from 390.1) ■■Wrexham: 524.4 (up from 509) ■■ Cardiff and Vale University Health Board

■■Cardiff: 567.2 (down from 567.7) ■■Vale of Glamorgan: 682 (down from 685.7)

■■ Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board ■■Merthyr Tydfil: 547 (up from 517.2)

■■Rhondda Cynon Taf: 438.1 (up from 434)

■■Bridgend: 474.7 (up from 472.6) ■■ Hywel Dda University Health Board

■■Carmarthenshire: 546.7 (up from 541.9) ■■Pembrokeshire: 456.2 (up from 437.1)

■■Ceredigion: 268.2 (up from 258.6)

■■ Powys Teaching Health Board ■■Powys: 552 (up from 548.2)

■■ Swansea Bay University Health Board

■■Neath Port Talbot: 514.3 (down from 524)

■■Swansea: 516.2 (up from 502.8)

■■ Wales total: 512.5 (up from 504.6)