PHW records 1,758 new cases of coronavirus

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

The data published yesterday also revealed there were 1,758 new positive cases, bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 366,624.

The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales based on the cases for every 100,000 people (seven days up to September 30) has begun to fall and now stands at 530.5 – a significant drop on the 559.4 reported on Monday.

The local authority with the highest infection rate in Wales is Torfaen, with 691.8 cases per 100,000 population over seven days, followed by Neath Port Talbot with 662.9 and Caerphilly with 635.1. Only three local authorities reported a rise in their seven-day infection rate in the latest data.

Test positivity rates across Wales stand at 14.6%, with Neath Port Talbot having the greatest proportion of tests coming back positive at 17.1%. Test positivity has been slowly falling for the past month after peaking at 22% across Wales in the first week of September.

The areas of the country recording the highest numbers of Covid cases in the latest 24-hour period were Cardiff with 250, Carmarthenshire with 156, Vale of Glamorgan with 114, Swansea with 112 and RCT with 111.

Meanwhile Pembrokeshire had 98 new cases, Caerphilly had 89, Flintshire had 80, Neath Port Talbot had 74, Wrexham had 71, Newport had 70, Torfaen had 69, Bridgend had 68, Denbighshire had 58, Gwynedd had 55.

The local authorities with the lowest numbers of cases are Anglesey with 51, Powys with 46, Blaenau Gwent with 40, Conwy with 36, Monmouthshire with 31, Ceredigion with 19 and Merthyr Tydfil with 14.

As of Monday there were 584 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected, and recovering) – up on the 544 reported as of October 1.

Aneurin Bevan UHB had the most Covid patients in general and acute hospital beds on October 4 with 134, followed by Betsi Cadwaladr UHB with 130, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB with 121, Cardiff and Vale UHB with 85, Swansea Bay UHB with 73 and Hywel Dda UHB with 40.

As of October 4 there were 42 people in invasive ventilated beds in Wales with coronavirus. Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB had the most with 11, while Hywel Dda UHB had nine, Swansea Bay UHB seven, Cardiff and Vale UHB and Betsi Cadwaladr UHB had six each, and Aneurin Bevan UHB three.

Yesterday Public Health Wales figures showed 2,385,134 people have had one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,226,140 have had both doses.