THERE has been another newly-reported case of coronavirus confirmed in Powys.

Figures released on Thursday, July 2, by Public Health Wales (PHW) show the total number of confirmed cases in the county has risen by one to 302, with 15 deaths reported, although the true figures are likely to be higher.

Powys Teaching Health Board has suggested that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data is more accurate, and that shows 92 deaths where coronavirus may have been present since the epidemic began.

Public Health Wales figures relate to cases where coronavirus has been confirmed, and only include people who have died in hospital settings in Wales.

As such, this excludes people who have died in hospitals in England, those who have passed away in care homes, and those who died without having been tested to confirm the presence of coronavirus.

Dr Christopher Johnson, Consultant in Health Protection at Public Health Wales and Chair of the Outbreak Control Team (OCT) said: “The multi-agency team managing the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) associated with Rowan Foods Ltd in Wrexham has recorded a total of 283 positive cases of infection in the workforce since June 8.

“We have previously asked people who work at the site and couldn’t attend for on-site sampling to come forward for testing, and they have. We are reporting a total increase of 46 cases recorded since Monday, but this does not mean that we have seen a jump in the level of infection in the last 48 hours. The majority of the increase is as a result of checking on-site sampling with results collected through community, home and drive-through testing centres, not new spread of infection.

“I want to reassure the workforce and wider community that the results we have identified are entirely what we would expect to see when a focused and robust testing regime is put in place."