Four more people have died with coronavirus in Wales according to latest figures published by Public Health Wales.
New data released on Thursday, February 17, and covering a 24-hour period shows 1,352 new positive cases, bringing the total to 805,836.
The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now risen to 6,935.
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The latest infection rate based on PCR tests for the seven days up to February 12 now stands at 299.9 cases for every 100,000 people – a reduction from the 309.2 cases recorded on Wednesday. It's the first time the infection rate has gone below 300 since August 2021.
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 latest data on lateral flow tests, published on Thursday for the week to February 12, show there have been a further 16,905 positive test results reported. That's down from 18,690 the previous week. Positivity also decreased from 11.87% to 10.24%. The highest incidence rate was in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area with 680.2 positive tests for every 100,000 people.
The area of Wales with the highest infection rate for the seven days up to February 11 was Ceredigion with 482.8 followed by Carmarthenshire with 392.5 and Cardiff with 369.6.
Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 176 followed by Carmarthenshire with 102, RCT and Swansea both with 77, Caerphilly with 68, Vale of Glamorgan with 67, Ceredigion with 61, and Gwynedd with 60.
Meanwhile Newport had 56 new cases, Pembrokeshire had 55, Wrexham and Flintshire both had 52, Neath Port Talbot had 51, Conwy had 50, Powys had 49, and Monmouthshire had 48.
The areas with the lowest new cases reported were Bridgend with 40, Torfaen with 37, Blaenau Gwent with 33, Anglesey with 29, Denbighshire with 28, and Merthyr Tydfil with 27.
In the seven days to February 12 a total of 27.5% of PCR tests across Wales gave a positive result, a fall on the 27.9% reported on Wednesday. The highest positivity rates were in Ceredigion (32.9%), Cardiff (31.3%), and Swansea (30.9%).
As of February 16 There were 13 patients in ventilated intensive care beds with confirmed Covid-19. This was one more than reported on February 15 but way down on the Omicron wave peak of 39 on January 5.
New figures are also being published showing the number of people being specifically treated for Covid rather than testing positive for the virus but being in hospital for other reasons. As of February 11 out of 341 patients in acute hospitals with Covid there were only 94 people actively being treated for Covid in Wales.
A total of 2,517,309 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,379,217 have been given two doses. Meanwhile 1,886,098 people have been given their booster jabs in Wales.
Infection rate for every 100,000 people in each area for the seven days up to February 12:
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
Blaenau Gwent: 323.5 (up from 313.5)
Newport: 263.8 (down from 278.6)
Caerphilly: 229.2 (down from 246.3)
Torfaen: 327.8 (down from 329.9)
Monmouthshire: 289.8 (up from 277)
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Conwy: 268.8 (down from 278.1)
Anglesey: 241.3 (down from 255.6)
Gwynedd: 285 (down from 293.8)
Denbighshire: 272.7 (down from 282.1)
Flintshire: 309.4 (down from 314.5)
Wrexham: 292.7 (down from 300.1)
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Cardiff: 369.6 (down from 373.4)
Vale of Glamorgan: 312.9 (down from 319.6)
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Merthyr Tydfil: 273.5 (down from 293.4)
Rhondda Cynon Taf: 237.9 (down from 248.3)
Bridgend: 214.2 (down from 225.1)
Hywel Dda University Health Board
Carmarthenshire: 392.5 (down from 419.6)
Pembrokeshire: 294.1 (down from 309.2)
Ceredigion: 482.8 (down from 485.6)
Powys Teaching Health Board
Powys: 262.8 (unchanged)
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Neath Port Talbot: 266.5 (down from 276.3)
Swansea: 310.5 (down from 321.9)
Wales total: 299.9 (down from 309.2)
The headlines from the latest ONS infection survey published at 2pm on Wednesday, February 16, suggest the percentage of people testing positive for Covid in Wales decreased during the week ending February 12.
It estimated 112,600 people in Wales, equivalent to one in 25, had Covid in the week ending February 12. In England it was one in 20 people. In Scotland one in 25 people had Covid in the same week, the same as Wales, while in Northern Ireland it was around one in 13.
On Friday the Welsh Government will start to ease Covid pass and mask rules in Wales. From February 18 the legal requirement to show a Covid pass to enter certain venues and events will be lifted and from Monday, February 28, face coverings will no longer need to be worn in all indoor public places. Schools will be able to set their own rules from the same date. You can read the full list of changes here.
Economy minister Vaughan Gething said in a press briefing last Friday: "The improving public health situation in Wales, together with the ongoing success of our vaccination programme, means we can now begin to gradually and carefully relax some of the protections we have in place at alert level zero.
"We will not be removing all the protective measures at once. While we can be confident that cases of coronavirus are falling that doesn’t mean it’s gone away."
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