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

There have now been 5,550 lab-confirmed cases of the virus from the combined counties that make up the North Wales region since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed in the latest figures released today.

Public Health Wales confirmed that the sixty of today’s new cases were from the area and can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – Three

• Conwy – 10

• Denbighshire – Seven

• Flintshire – 21

• Gwynedd – One

• Wrexham – 18

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported no new deaths to date 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 572 for the health board area.

BCUHB stats:

• Confirmed cases – 5,550

• New cases from September 30 – 60

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 from September 21 to 27 – Anglesey (10.0), Conwy (46.1), Denbighshire (37.6), Flintshire (53.8), Gwynedd (14.5), Wrexham (43.4)

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to September 14 to 20 – Anglesey (35.7), Conwy (32.4), Denbighshire (39.7), Flintshire (31.4), Gwynedd (9.6), Wrexham (12.5)

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 388 COVID cases were confirmed in Wednesday’s figures, meaning that 23,985 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There was one newly reported death under the care of Swansea Bay University Health Board, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus stands at 1,616 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 will soon enter local restriction across Wrexham, Flintshire, Conwy and Denbighshire. At present, Anglesey and Gwynedd are not being placed under the same 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 supports the introduction of new coronavirus restrictions in four local authority areas in North Wales – Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy and Wrexham – following a rise in cases. The new measures will come into force at 6pm on Thursday, October 1, to protect people’s health and control the spread of the virus in the four areas.

“These arrangements are necessary in order to bring transmission of the virus under control in these areas. It is very important that we abide by the regulations in the areas in which we live and that we do not travel between local authority areas without a reasonable excuse.

“We thank the public in advance for sticking to these new restrictions, which are essential in reducing spread of the virus, protecting older and vulnerable people, and keeping Wales safe.

“Following the introduction of restrictions in the borough of Caerphilly, our data is beginning to show a downward trend, and although we cannot categorically say this trend is a result of lockdown, we are cautiously optimistic and we are looking at a number of alternative sources to validate these results.

“We remind people living in areas of Wales where there are currently no restrictions in place to remember, at all times, the importance of adhering to the regulations to prevent further local restrictions.”