608 new Covid cases as death toll rises by 25

A FURTHER 25 people have died with coronavirus in Wales according to latest figures from Public Health Wales.

The NHS trust confirmed yesterday that 608 more positive cases have been reported in the past 24 hours – up from 410 on Thursday – which brings the total since the pandemic began to 198,362.

The number of people who have now died with Covid-19 in Wales within a month of receiving a positive test result has now reached 5,084.

The Wales infection rate is now 102.3 per 100,000 population for the seven days up to February 7, down from 107.4. It has not been this low since September.

Wrexham remains the local authority with the highest infection rate in Wales, with a seven-day rate of 199.3 cases per 100,000 population, down from 206.7 on Thursday.

Flintshire is in second with 172.3, down from 187.7, and Anglesey remains third with 164.2, down from 171.3.

Cardiff reported the most new cases in the latest 24-hour period with 102, followed by Rhondda Cynon Taf with 58, Swansea with 43, Powys and Caerphilly with 41, Wrexham and Carmarthenshire with 35, Neath Port Talbot with 29, Flintshire with 28, Newport with 27 and Vale of Glamorgan with 20 .

Across Wales, the positivity rate of tests is down to 8.7% for the past seven-day period, which is below a key Welsh Government threshold for easing lockdown restrictions. The highest rate is in Wrexham, where 13.3% of tests have come back positive in the past week.