The situation with Covid in Wales is rising at an "accelerating rate" which is resulting in "concerning circumstances", Wales' First Minister has said. Mark Drakeford echoed the words of his health minister, Eluned Morgan, in saying that the results of this week's review of Covid rules is not a foregone conclusion.
The latest infection rate based on PCR tests for the seven days up to March 17 is 403 cases for every 100,000 people – a rise from the 335 cases recorded on Monday. It's the first time the infection rate has gone above 400 since the seven days between January 31 and February 6.
We have the figures for all areas of Wales in our daily breakdown. Infection rates in every area of Wales have risen with the highest infection rate (based on PCR tests) for the seven days up to March 17 being Blaenau Gwent with 639.8 cases per 100,000 population followed by Vale of Glamorgan with 494.8 and Wrexham with 453.8.
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The First Minister had said the hope was to end all remaining restrictions from Monday, March 28. The Welsh Government cabinet will meet this week to look at the latest data and see if they will still do that. Modelling is also being drawn up to show the impact of the BA.2 variant in Wales. If you want to know more about that you can see what we know so far here.
Speaking in the Senedd the First Minister said: "After a prolonged period of the number of people falling ill with coronavirus in Wales falling week by week in the last 10 days we've seen numbers rising again and not simply rising but rising rapidly and at an accelerating rate. Now Wales continues to have the lowest incidence of coronavirus of any of the four UK nations but the numbers that we are seeing are driving more people into hospital and we've seen the very preliminary signs of more people needing intensive care as well. So these are very concerning circumstances that we are having to face over this week as we come to the end of the three-week review."
Health minister Eluned Morgan gave an update about the situation in Wales in a press conference on Tuesday lunchtime. You can recap it in full here. In it she was asked how conversations about this week's review were going.
The Welsh Government had said it would look at relaxing all remaining rules in Wales, including the legal requirement to wear face masks in shops, healthcare settings, and on public transport, from Monday, March 28. But that was put in doubt after Scotland delayed its plans to end measures. Since then cases have risen in Wales.
Mrs Morgan said it would be a "finely-balanced" judgement about whether the planned approach to ending all restrictions on Monday goes ahead. "There are no foregone conclusions – we're analysing the data, we're giving ourselves as much time as we can," she said.
"We will act in the best interests of the NHS and public health in Wales. We have got to consider the pressures on hospitals in Wales. Any new pressures in the NHS is going to lead to more difficulties in terms of access to A&E and ambulances. All that has to be considered."
She said Wales has the lowest Covid rates in the UK. "It may be we look at keeping some restrictions and forging ahead with the ones we had already but no decisions have been made so far," the health minister added.
