EIGHT more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Powys in the last 24 hours.

 It takes the total number of Powys cases since the pandemic began to 4,158. Public Health Wales (PHW) said that due to changes made to the way it publishes coronavirus information on its website and data dashboard, the data reported today is for a 48-hour period up to 9am yesterday, and therefore today’s figures reported are around double the usual 24-hour figure.

The rate of new cases per 100,000 in the week to April 14 in Powys has spiked slightly but is still incredibly low – at 16.6.

The number of deaths in Powys climbed one to 66 over the weekend, according to PHW figures, with that number at 266 according to more accurate Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

Powys Teaching Health Board have now delivered over 118,000 vaccine doses through its Covid-19 vaccination programme.

This includes over 87,300 first doses and over 31,500 second doses, with 94 per cent of people in Priority Groups 1-9 in Powys have received their first dose, and over a third (38 per cent) have already received double-dose protection.

Over two-thirds (75 per cent) of the adult population in the county have received their first dose.

Last week (week ending April 18) saw over 7,500 vaccination doses delivered in the county.

Powys stats:

Confirmed cases – 4,158

New cases in April 19 data – 8

Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to April 14 – 16.6

Powys position among Welsh local authorities for rate of new cases – joint 3rd out of 22

Newly-confirmed cases day-by-day:

Monday, April 19 – 8

Saturday/Sunday, April 17/18 – 3

Friday, April 16 – 1

Thursday, April 15 – 7

Wednesday, April 14 - 0

Tuesday, April 13 – 2

Monday, April 12 – 2

The national picture:

There have been two more deaths of people with Covid-19 reported by health chiefs in the past 24 hours – taking the total number of Welsh deaths up to 5.540.

There were 102 new positive cases across Wales today, taking the total number up to 210,925.

Public Health Wales' statement:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Following the changes made to the way we publish coronavirus information on our website and data dashboard, the data reported today, Monday 19 April, the data published today is for a 48-hour period up to 9am yesterday.

“Therefore, the figures reported today are around double the usual 24 hours figure.

“We are no longer publishing the data or a daily statement on Saturdays because case numbers are now low therefore any fluctuation day-to-day can give rise to potentially misleading interpretation and we want to be focusing more on the underlying trends.

“Our surveillance team will however retain the ability to ramp back up to seven day reporting if necessary.

“On Friday the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that pregnant women should be offered the Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as the rest of the population, based on their age and clinical risk group. JCVI advice is followed in Wales.

“As there is more experience of the use of the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in pregnancy those vaccines are therefore the preferred vaccines to offer to pregnant women.

“We would like to remind the public that coronavirus is still circulating in our communities and a large number of people have not been fully vaccinated. It is therefore vital that people observe social distancing, where face coverings when in indoor spaces, and wash hands regularly. These actions will help to prevent transmission of the virus.”