INFECTION RATE CONTINUES TO RISE

EIGHT 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 2,840 new positive cases to bring the total to 774,356.

The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now reached 6,812.

The latest infection rate based on PCR tests, for the seven days up to January 24, now stands at 527.8 cases for every 100,000 people – up from 516.3. 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 Welsh local authority with the highest infection rate was Newport with 899.9 cases per 100,000, followed by Carmarthenshire with 660.1 and Cardiff with 627.4. Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 398, followed by Swansea with 221, Rhondda Cynon Taf with 205, Newport with 179, Wrexham with 165, Caerphilly with 164, Vale of Glamorgan with 156 and Carmarthenshire with 142.

In the seven days to January 24 a total of 34.5% of PCR tests across Wales gave a positive result, a slight increase on the 34.4% reported on Friday. The highest positivity rates were in Newport (42.7%), Cardiff (39%) and Swansea (37.7%).

As of January 27 there were 1,072 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected and recovering) – up from 1,036 – and 20 people in intensive care beds with confirmed Covid-19.

A total of 2,507,907 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,361,757 have been given two doses.

Meanwhile, 1,824,858 people have been given their booster jabs in Wales.