SEVENTEEN new positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in Powys in the last 24 hours, according to Public Health Wales (PHW) stats.

It comes on a day that none of Wales’ 22 local authorities recorded above 100 new cases of Covid-19 – with Flintshire’s 77 and Wrexham’s 76 the only areas above 75. Powys is among the lowest, with Merthyr Tydfil and Ceredigion both recording 11, Pembrokeshire 10 and Blaenau Gwent nine.

There have been no more recorded deaths according to those PHW figures, which put deaths due to the virus since the pandemic began at 40, although that number is 160, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

The cumulative number of cases in the county since the pandemic began now stands at 3,257.

Deaths of Powys residents can be skewed because many of the county’s patients deemed acute are transferred to hospitals in England. ONS figures are therefore usually 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.

Powys stats:

Confirmed cases – 3,257

New cases in January 22 data – 17

Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to January 17 – 189.5

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

Newly-confirmed cases day-by-day:

Friday, January 22 – 17

Thursday, January 21 – 48

Wednesday, January 20 – 33

Tuesday, January 19 – 23

Monday, January 18 – 35

Sunday, January 17 - 22

Saturday, January 16 - 60

Friday, January 15 – 50

The national picture:

There have been another 67 deaths in Wales due to coronavirus. More than half of those latest deaths – 36 – were in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area, covering Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend and Merthyr.

It takes the total number of deaths with Covid reported since the start of the pandemic in Wales to 4,459.

There were also 801 new infections reported, taking the total number of cases to 185,836.

The number of people to have received their first jab of the vaccine in Wales now stands at 212,317 with 415 having had their second dose.

A total of 2,316,792 tests have been carried out in Wales, with 14,968 carried out on Thursday.

The seven-day rolling case rate for Wales has dropped from 281 to 271 cases per 100,000 people.

Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford has said that Covid cases are falling in all areas of Wales, adding that the rate was falling in all health board areas, including north Wales.

Speaking at his Friday briefing, Mr Drakeford said: “Overall, the seven-day case rate for Wales has dropped to around 270 cases per 100,000 people – almost 100 points lower than it was last week.”

But he warned around 16 per cent of tests were coming back positive and this suggested there was still a lot of infection in the community.

Mr Drakeford also said there is cause for concern over new variants of Covid-19.

“We know the new highly contagious strain – sometimes called the Kent variant – is now widespread across Wales,” he said.

The Welsh Government is closely monitoring three new variant variants: one from South Africa and two from Brazil, with six cases of the South African variant identified in Wales.

The health minister, meanwhile, says he made an “honest mistake” after he was accused of misleading people by claiming the majority of over 80s had been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Vaughan Gething said he understood most people in the age group had received their first dose of the vaccine. Figures show, however, there have been 43,879 doses issued – 23.9 per cent of the priority group.

In other Covid-related news, a minority still breaking Covid lockdown rules could make the pandemic “stretch longer” in Wales, a senior police officer has warned.

The “gold commander” for policing lockdown across the Gwent force area said he wanted to thank the vast majority for sticking to the law.

But Chief Superintendent Mark Hobrough, who oversees Gwent Police's response to Covid-19, said those “blatantly flouting” rules would face enforcement action.

Nearly 3,800 fines have been issued in Wales for Covid rule breaches.

The latest figures released by UK police forces revealed nearly three-quarters of those fines went to men, and the largest group falling foul of Covid rules were aged between 18 and 24.

Ch Supt Hobrough said he and his officers had seen a change in the way the public responded to the restrictions since the first lockdown was announced in March 2020.

Public Health Wales' statement:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We are increasingly confident in the data which is showing a consistent downward trend in the numbers of positive cases in Wales.

“However, the numbers of cases is extremely high, and this is placing extreme pressure on our NHS Wales hospitals.

“The new variant of coronavirus prevalent in many parts of Wales is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, so it is still vital that everyone continues to remain vigilant, by staying at home and sticking to the rules. This way we will avoid adding to the pressure on hospitals and will keep people safe.

“All of Wales remains in lockdown. We ask that the public adopts the same mindset for this lockdown as they did in March 2020. We understand that people are fatigued but because the new, more infectious variant of coronavirus is circulating across Wales it is vital that we all keep to the lockdown restrictions and do not meet other people.”