Eight more people have died with coronavirus in Wales, according to latest figures from Public Health Wales, but the infection rate continues to fall.
The data, published on Sunday, January 23, and covering a 24-hour period up to 9am on January 21, shows 2,827 new positive cases to bring the total to 756,727.
The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now reached 6,771.
Read more: The huge Covid rule changes in Wales this week
Data published on lateral flow tests, which is updated weekly in Wales, show that there has been another slight increase in the number of positive tests. There were a total of 15,393 positive tests out of 383,021 tests carried out and registered.
The latest infection rate based on PCR tests, for the seven days up to January 16, now stands at 472 cases for every 100,000 people – down on the 490.9 recorded on Thursday. However these figures don't include people testing positive through LFT tests.
The highest infection rate in each Welsh local authority for the seven days between January 11 and January 17 was Newport with 691 cases per 100,000 followed by Blaenau Gwent with 625 and Merthyr Tydfil with 593..
Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 381, followed by Newport with 253, Rhondda Cynon Taf with 204, Carmarthenshire with 184, Swansea with 180, Neath Port Talbot with 166, Wrexham wtih 161, Bridgend with 150, Caerphilly with 140, Vale of Glamorgan with 125 and Torfaen with 115.
Areas with cases under 100 were Flintshire with 99, Denbighshire and Powys with 78, Conwy with 73, Pembrokeshire and Blaenau Gwent both with 69, and Gwynedd and Merthyr with 62 cases.
The area with the lowest cases were Monmouthshire with 50, Ceredigion with 26 and Anglesey with 23.
The percentage of tests coming back positive is also falling. In the seven days to January 17 a total of 34% of tests across Wales gave a positive result, down from 34.7% reported on Friday.
The highest positivity rates were in Newport (40%) Cardiff (38.5%), and Swansea (both 37.8%).
As of January 20 there were 998 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected, and recovering), a drop on the 1,012 on January 19. Within that data the number of confirmed Covid patients has fallen from 615 on January 19 to 599 on January 20.
There were 27 people in ventilated intensive care beds with confirmed Covid-19 on January 19. This has now fallen back over several days from an Omicron wave peak of 39 people with confirmed Covid in ventilated intensive care beds on January 5.
A total of 2,504,081 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,349,478 have been given two doses. Meanwhile, 1,800,848 people have been given their booster jabs in Wales. The Welsh Government has confirmed that all eligible adults were offered one by the end of December.
Infection rate for every 100,000 people in each area for the seven days up to January 17
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
Blaenau Gwent: 625.5 (up from 598.3)
Newport: 691.1 (up from 660.1)
Caerphilly: 504.2 (down from 520.8)
Torfaen: 460.8 (down from 474.7)
Monmouthshire: 441.9 (down from 447.2)
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Conwy: 434.3 (down from 481.2)
Anglesey: 365.5 (down from 401.2)
Gwynedd: 271.4 (down from 281)
Denbighshire: 385.6 (down from 423.2)
Flintshire: 323.5 (down from 336.2)
Wrexham: 578.1 (down from 591.4)
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Cardiff: 535.8 (down from 547.8)
Vale of Glamorgan: 379.5 (down from 395.2)
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Merthyr Tydfil: 593.4 (up from 547)
Rhondda Cynon Taf: 465.9 (down from 490.3)
Bridgend: 465.8 (down from 498.5)
Hywel Dda University Health Board
Carmarthenshire: 583.8 (down from 593.8)
Pembrokeshire: 352.9 (down from 369.6)
Ceredigion: 268.2 (down from 297.1)
Powys Teaching Health Board
Powys: 254.5 (down from 330)
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Neath Port Talbot: 576.4 (down from 594.5)
Swansea: 549.8 (down from 552.2)
Wales total: 472.4 (down from 490.9)
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics to January 12 show that the rate Covid is spreading in Wales is clearly falling. This is based on population sampling and is not affected by changes to testing rules.
In Wales, almost one in 25 people had Covid in Wales in the last week – lower than in England, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. The ONS estimated that 169,100 people in Wales, equivalent to one in 20, had Covid in the previous week.
The headlines indicate the percentage of people testing positive for Covid increased rapidly in the run-up to Christmas but slowed up during the first week of January and is now dropping dramatically.
First Minister Mark Drakeford confirmed on Thursday that Wales would move to alert level zero on January 28 unless the public health situation changed for the worse.
The latest public health data suggests Wales has passed the peak of the Omicron wave and coronavirus cases are falling back to levels similar to those seen earlier in the autumn.
From Friday, January 28, Wales Wales is on track to complete the move to alert level zero. This means:
- Nightclubs will re-open.
- Businesses, employers and other organisations must continue to undertake a specific coronavirus risk assessment and take reasonable measures to minimise the spread of coronavirus.
- The general requirement of 2m social distancing in all premises open to the public and workplaces will be removed.
- The rule of six will no longer apply to gatherings in regulated premises, such as hospitality, cinemas and theatres.
- Licensed premises will no longer need to only provide table service and collect contact details.
- Working from home will remain part of advice from the Welsh Government but it will no longer be a legal requirement.
The Covid pass will continue to be required to enter larger indoor events, nightclubs, cinemas, theatres and concert halls.
The next three-weekly review of the coronavirus regulations will be carried out by February 11 when the Welsh Government will review all the measures at alert level zero.
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