Eight more people have died with coronavirus in Wales according to latest figures published by Public Health Wales.
New data released on Wednesday, February 16, and covering a 24-hour period shows 1,124 new positive cases, bringing the total to 804,484.
The overall number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive in Wales has now risen to 6,931.
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The latest infection rate based on PCR tests for the seven days up to February 11 now stands at 309.2 cases for every 100,000 people – a reduction from the 326.8 cases recorded on Tuesday.
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 6, show there have been a further 18,690 positive test results reported. That's down from 23,066 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 485.6 followed by Carmarthenshire with 419.6 and Cardiff with 373.4.
Cardiff recorded the most positive cases over the latest 24-hour period with 165 followed by RCT with 80, Swansea with 78, Powys with 71, Carmarthenshire with 70, and Neath Port Talbot with 66.
Meanwhile Vale of Glamorgan had 49 new cases, Wrexham had 48, Pembrokeshire had 47, Caerphilly had 45, Bridgend, Conwy, and Newport all had 42, Flintshire had 39, and Torfaen had 37.
The areas with the lowest new cases reported were Denbighshire with 31, Monmouthshire with 29, Blaenau Gwent with 26, Gwynedd with 25, Merthyr Tydfil with 20, Ceredigion with 17, and Anglesey with nine.
In the seven days to February 10 a total of 27.9% of PCR tests across Wales gave a positive result, a fall on the 28.6% reported on Tuesday. The highest positivity rates were in Ceredigion (33%), Cardiff (31.7%), and Swansea (31.4%).
As of February 15 There were 12 patients in ventilated intensive care beds with confirmed Covid-19. This was two less than reported on February 14 and 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 2,517,081 people have received one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,378,724 have been given two doses. Meanwhile 1,884,146 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 11:
Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
Blaenau Gwent: 313.5 (down from 329.2)
Newport: 278.6 (down from 312.3)
Caerphilly: 246.3 (down from 268.4)
Torfaen: 329.9 (down from 357.6)
Monmouthshire: 277 (down from 286.5)
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Conwy: 278.1 (down from 290.9)
Anglesey: 255.6 (down from 287)
Gwynedd: 293.8 (unchanged)
Denbighshire: 282.1 (down from 289.5)
Flintshire: 314.5 (down from 316.5)
Wrexham: 300.1 (down from 320)
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Cardiff: 373.4 (down from 390.8)
Vale of Glamorgan: 319.6 (down from 321.1)
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Merthyr Tydfil: 293.4 (down from 319.9)
Rhondda Cynon Taf: 248.3 (down from 260.7)
Bridgend: 225.1 (down from 242.8)
Hywel Dda University Health Board
Carmarthenshire: 419.6 (down from 452.9)
Pembrokeshire: 309.2 (down from 324.3)
Ceredigion: 485.6 (up from 449.8)
Powys Teaching Health Board
Powys: 262.8 (down from 288.4)
Swansea Bay University Health Board
Neath Port Talbot: 276.3 (down from 308.4)
Swansea: 321.9 (down from 347)
Wales total: 309.2 (down from 326.8)
The headlines from the latest ONS infection survey published at 2pm on Wednesday, February 9, suggest the percentage of people testing positive for Covid in Wales decreased during the week ending February 5.
It estimated 121,200 people in Wales, equivalent to one in 25, had Covid in the week ending February 5. In England it was one in 19 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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