Three more deaths after positive tests
THREE more people have died in Wales after testing positive for Covid-19, according to new figures from Public Health Wales (PHW).
PHW also reported there have been 462 new lab-confirmed positive cases of coronavirus yesterday.
This is the highest figure so far during the second wave, with Thursday marking the second-highest day at 398 cases.
Dr Robin Howe, Incident Director at Public Health Wales, said yesterday: “Approximately 2,000 test results (which will include both positive and negative results) from the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Lighthouse labs have been delayed.
“This means today’s test numbers will be an underestimate of the true picture of coronavirus in Wales. This is beyond our control, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
“The number of tests will in likelihood increase disproportionately over the coming days as the backlog of test results are incorporated into our reporting.”
The number of overall deaths with coronavirus in Wales now stands at 1,625.
Not all of these new deaths will have taken place in the last 24 hours due to delays in them being reported to PHW.
Blaenau Gwent continues to record the highest rate of infections in Wales with 220.4 positive cases per 100,00 people in the last seven days – down from 246.2 positive cases the day before.
Infection rates for Merthyr Tydfil are the second highest at 177.4 cases per 100,000, down from 208.9 cases on Thursday. Rhondda Cynon Taf also remains high at 174.1 cases per 100,000 (a drop from 178.2 on Thursday).
The Wales average per 100,000 population is now at 74.2 – down from 75.7 the day before.
Around 2.35 million people are now in local lockdowns across Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy, Wrexham, Cardiff, Swansea, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly borough, Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Newport, Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen.
These are the key details on Friday:
Deaths reported today: 3
Cases reported today: 462 (Up from 398 on Thursday)
Number of tests carried out yesterday: 9,524 (Up from 9,137 on Thursday)
Total deaths with labconfirmed coronavirus in Wales: 1,625
RCT reported the highest number of positive tests on Friday with 68, followed by Swansea with 51, Cardiff with 46 and Flintshire with 30. The other local authorities in double figures included Bridgend with 26, Merthyr Tydfil and Conwy with 18, Carmarthenshire with 16, Neath Port Talbot and Wrexham with 15 each, Vale of Glamorgan with 14, Newport with 11 and Caerphilly with 10.
Meanwhile, Gwynedd and Denbighshire each had 9, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent each had 8, Powys had 7, Ceredigion had three and Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire had two.
Anglesey was the only local authority to report no new local cases.
Dr Robin Howe, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We remind people living in areas of Wales where there are currently no restrictions in place to remember, at all times, the importance of adhering to the regulations to prevent further local restrictions.
“The new restrictions mean that people living in the affected areas will not be allowed to enter or leave their local authority area without a reasonable excuse.
“They will not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with for the time being – extended households are suspended for the time being.
“Details of these rules for each local authority area can be found on the Welsh Government website.”