THERE have been 11 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Powys by Public Health Wales today (October 13).

The total number of lab-confirmed cases of the virus in Powys since the outbreak of the pandemic now stands at 586, with Public Health Wales confirming 11 new cases overnight from Monday, October 12. Although still relatively low it is the highest number of new cases reported in Powys since last Thursday, October 8, when 12 cases were confirmed.

There have been no more deaths in Powys, meaning the number of confirmed deaths of people due to Covid-19 is 15.

PHW's figures mostly involve hospital deaths and only include cases when the virus has been confirmed in a laboratory test. The figures do not include deaths of residents from Powys in hospitals in England, although these are included in Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

Figures from the ONS, considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 95 in Powys, where it has remained since mid-August.

The county's infection rate now appears to have passed 25 cases per 100,000 people – the trigger point at which the Welsh Government is thought to start monitoring the advance of the virus, but still well below the level at which a local lockdown is imposed.

Powys stats:

Confirmed cases – 586

New cases in October 13 data – 11

Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to October 8 – 40

Powys position among Welsh local authorities for rate of new cases – 18th out of 22

Newly-confirmed cases day-by-day:

Tuesday, October 13 – 11

Sunday, October 11 – 9

Saturday, October 10 – 9

Friday, October 9 – 8

Thursday, October 8 – 12

Wednesday, October 7 – 8

Tuesday October 6 – 3

The national picture

Five more people have died with coronavirus in Wales and 764 have tested positive, according to the latest figures from PHW.

It said there had been a total of 1,678 deaths and 31,370 people have tested positive since the pandemic began. Three of the latest deaths were reported by Cwm Taf health board and two were in the Aneurin Bevan health board area.

The total number of people who have been tested in Wales is 615,838, with 584,468 testing negative.

A total of 11,645 daily tests were carried out on behalf of PHW on Monday.

Seventeen areas in Wales have seen local lockdown restrictions put in place, affecting more than two million people. Of the newly-reported cases on Tuesday, 110 were in Cardiff, 100 were in Rhondda Cynon Taf and 55 in Swansea.

Taking cases over the past seven days, Merthyr Tydfil has the highest case rate with 207.2 infections per 100,000 people, followed by Wrexham with 181.7, Rhondda Cynon Taf with 178.2 and Flintshire with 168.5.

Public Health Wales' statement

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Covid-19 outbreak response at PHW, said: “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.

“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.”