Two more lose lives as coronavirus infection rate climbs again

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

The data, published yesterday and covering a 24-hour period, shows 1,977 new positive cases to bring the total to 763,031.

The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now reached 6,784.

The latest infection rate based on PCR tests, for the seven days up to January 20, now stands at 483.7 cases for every 100,000 people – up on the 473.3 recorded on Monday.

The infection rate based on PCR tests is only a guide to the spread of Covid in Wales as it does not include lateral flow test results, which are reported weekly in Wales. People with no symptoms who test positive on an LFT no longer need a confirmatory PCR test.

The highest infection rate in each Welsh local authority for the seven days between January 14 and 20 was Newport with 795.2 cases per 100,000, followed by Neath Port Talbot with 608.4 and Merthyr Tydfil with 603.4.

Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 274, followed by Carmarthenshire with 173, Newport with 140, Caerphilly with 139, Swansea with 135, Rhondda Cynon Taf with 116, Bridgend with 110 and Wrexham with 100.

The areas with the lowest cases were Blaenau Gwent with 47, Merthyr Tydfil with 44, Conwy with 42, Monmouthshire with 39, Gwynedd with 32, Anglesey with 23 and Ceredigion with 12.

The percentage of PCR tests coming back positive has risen slightly. In the seven days to January 20 a total of 33.6% of tests across Wales gave a positive result, up from 33.2% reported on Monday.

The highest positivity rates were in Newport (40.8%) Neath Port Talbot (38.5%), and Cardiff (38.4%).

As of Monday, there were 1,016 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected, and recovering) – up from 1,003. However, within that data the number of confirmed Covid patients fell from 586 to 527.

There were 19 people in intensive care beds, down on the 26 reported on Friday and half the Omicron wave peak of 39 on January 5.

A total of 2,506,323 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,359,337 have been given two doses. Meanwhile, 1,816,545 people have been given their booster jabs in Wales.