Postive LFTS rise to highest weekly figure ever recorded

THREE more people have died with coronavirus, according to latest figures from Public Health Wales.

New data published yesterday and covering a 24-hour period, also shows 2,128 new positive PCR test results to bring the total to 851,925.

The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test in Wales now stands at 7,095.

The latest infection rate based on PCR tests for the seven days up to March 20 is 429.4 cases for every 100,000 people – a rise from the 424.2 cases recorded on Thursday.

The latest data on lateral flow tests, for the week to March 20, shows a massive increase in positive tests. There were 30,712 positive test results reported in the past seven days. That’s up substantially from 21,212 the previous week and the highest weekly figure ever recorded.

The Office for National Statistics infection survey, published yesterday, also shows cases are increasing rapidly. It estimates that 192,000 people in Wales or around one in 16 people had Covid in the week ending March 19.

That is the same as in England, while Scotland has the highest Covid rate, with one in 11 people currently infected. One in 17 people in Northern Ireland are estimated to have it.

The percentage of PCR and LFT tests producing positive results has also risen across Wales. Nearly one in four (37.9%) of PCR tests is currently coming back positive, while nearly a quarter of LFTS are producing positive test results (22.83%).

Infection rates in every area of Wales have risen, with the highest infection rate (based on PCR tests) for the seven days up to March 20 being Blaenau Gwent with 668.5 cases per 100,000 population, followed by Vale of Glamorgan with 509.8 and Torfaen with 481.1.

In Swansea the rate dropped slightly to 323.1, it rose to 323.8 in Neath Port Talbot, it’s as high as 434.9 in Carmarthenshire and up to 372.3 in Powys.

Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 307, followed by RCT with 196, Swansea with 137, Vale of Glamorgan with 120, Caerphilly with 116 and Carmarthenshire with 111.

Meanwhile, Flintshire and Neath Port Talbot both had 93 new cases, Newport had 89, Powys had 88, Wrexham had 87, Bridgend had 85, Blaenau Gwent had 78 and Pembrokeshire had 76.

The local authorities with the lowest numbers of new cases included Torfaen with 61, Monmouthshire and Conwy both with 56, Denbighshire with 55, Merthyr Tydfil with 52, Gwynedd with 46, Ceredigion with 35 and Anglesey with 28.