OVER 150 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across our region by Public Health Wales (PHW) today.

There have now been 7,224 lab-confirmed cases of the virus from the combined counties that make up the North Wales region since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Public Health Wales confirmed 152 of today’s 946 newly confirmed Welsh cases were from the northern region and can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – Six (8.6 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Conwy – 30 (25.6 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Denbighshire – 21 (21.9 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Flintshire – 36 (23.1 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Gwynedd – 16 (12.8 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Wrexham – 43 (31.6 per 100,000 population as of today)

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported 429 people that have sadly died in total, according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 576 for the health board area.

BCUHB stats:

• Confirmed cases as of October 14 – 7,224

• New cases from October 14 – 152

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 last week (October 5 to 11) – Anglesey (58.5), Conwy (138.2), Denbighshire (129.6), Flintshire (168.5), Gwynedd (99.6), Wrexham (186.1)

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 946 COVID cases were confirmed in Wednesday's figures, meaning that 32,316 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

The largest number of these cases comes from the Cardiff area with 242 confirmed results in the last 24 hours.

There were 10 newly reported deaths, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus stands at 1,688 in Wales.

Local lockdowns are currently in force for several areas of south Wales including Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen.

North Wales also came under local restrictions at the beginning of the month across Wrexham, Flintshire, Conwy and Denbighshire.

Localised restrictions have also been placed on Bangor as of Saturday October 10.

At present, Anglesey and wider parts of Gwynedd are not being placed under stricter rules.

This is what Public Health Wales' has to say:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales’ daily dashboard is today reporting the largest number of positive Coronavirus cases on a single day for the entire pandemic at 946 new cases.

"This demonstrates the high growth in numbers of positives, and reminds us how important it is that we all stick to the local restrictions, and to follow the social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

"We have seen an increase in transmission of the Coronavirus in social clubs, and would like to remind the public that the virus spreads really well in social situations."

Public Health Wales advice that, if you need to visit these type of venues, then:

  • Don’t mix with anyone other than the people that you live with;
  • Stay 2m apart from people that you don’t live with;
  • If you are contacted by the Test, Trace, Protect service, then please be honest about where you have been and with whom – the contact tracers aren’t going to judge you, they are trying to restrict the spread of the virus. By giving them the correct information you will help others avoid infection, and possibly getting seriously ill.

Dr Shanker continues: "Local restrictions are now in place in Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, and Wrexham local authority areas, and in the hyperlocal areas of Bangor and Llanelli.

“People who live in these areas must abide by these restrictions to protect themselves, their families, friends, older and vulnerable people, and keep Wales safe.

“It is vital that people in every part of Wales stick to social distancing guidelines – that’s staying two metres away from others, and washing hands regularly. They must also self-isolate immediately when asked to do so."