DATA at a more local level to track coronavirus outbreaks in Wales could be available soon, once the risk of identifying individual people is solved.

The call came from a Powys County Councillor as discussion took place on social media on how and what form of lockdown Powys would have, if it’s needed.

County wide lockdowns are in force in 15 of the 22 Welsh local authorities.

But in two areas, the University city of Bangor in Gwynedd and the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, more localised restrictions are in place.

Aside from these areas, the rest of Gwynedd and Carmarthenshire are not under restrictions.

The rate of infection in Powys is rising and currently stands (Monday, October 12) at 37.8 per 100,000 population which is short of the 50/100,000 which is supposed to trigger a lockdown.

On social media some people have advocated that a lockdown should based on the old shires of Montgomeryshire, Radnorshir and Brecknockshire, while others point to the Bangor/Llanelli model.

Former head of education at Powys County Council, Dr Alec Clark, said on Twitter:”Given the geographical size of Powys, surely more focussed lockdowns are the way forward?

“It is likely that rates in Newtown are not going to bear any resemblance to those in Crickhowell or Llandrindod for example.”

Cllr Amanda Jenner (Trewern – Conservative), said: “We need localised data for Powys, it would be ridiculous to put such a large county into lockdown if cases are predominantly concentrated in one area.”

Cllr Pete Roberts (Llandrindod South – Liberal Democrat) pointed out that Llanymynech in the north of Powys is actually closer to Liverpool than it is to Ystradgynlais, in the south of Powys.

Portfolio holder for Adult social services, Cllr Myfanwy Alexander (Independent – Banwy) said: “We have localised data for Powys and use it every day.

“The issue is that in urban areas there is very low risk of individuals being identified within, say a square mile on a map.

“There is concern that we need to get the scales right to prevent revealing cases’ identities: we will publish as soon as we have sorted an appropriate scale.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Public Health Wales if they were considering publishing data on a more local level than county council areas?

Dr Giri Shankar, Incident Director for Public Health Wales said:  “Where there are a low number of cases in a given locality, publishing this data could have an unintended consequences of risk of deductive disclosure, or put simply, individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 may be identifiable.

“Our intention is to develop middle super output area maps which will give more local information.

“We hope that this developmental work will be published in the coming weeks.”