POWYS has seen two new cases of coronavirus reported in the last day.

Powys’ case rate per 100,000 people in the week up to May 2 is as low as 5.3, with a total of nine new cases reported in the last three days. The total number of Powys cases since the pandemic began is now 4,188. 

The number of deaths in Powys remains at 66, according to Public Health Wales (PHW) figures, with that number rising by two deaths this week to 270 according to more accurate Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

Eight of Wales’ 22 local authority areas recorded no new cases today.

From now on we will be moving our daily Covid stats to a twice weekly update, on a Friday and a Tuesday.

Powys stats:

Confirmed cases – 4,188

New cases in May 7 data – 2

Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to May 2 – 5.3

Powys position among Welsh local authorities for rate of new cases – joint 7th out of 22

Powys Teaching Health Board vaccine total doses – 135,000

PTHB first doses – 93,000

PTHB second doses – 42,000

Newly-confirmed cases day-by-day:

Friday, May 7 – 2

Wednesday, May 5/Thursday, May 6 – 7

Tuesday, May 4 – 2

Monday, May 3 – 0

Sunday, May 2 – 0

Saturday, May 1 – 0

Friday, April 30 – 0

The national picture:

There were no Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours – taking the total number of people who have died with coronavirus since the start of the pandemic to 5,552.

PHW confirmed 47 new cases today, which sees figures for the total number of cases in Wales rise to 211,773 people since the start of the pandemic.

Elsewhere, most adults under the age of 40 will be given an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to a link with rare blood clots.

The UK's medicines safety regulator says there have been 242 clotting cases and 49 deaths, with 28.5 million doses of the vaccine administered. But the risk is slightly higher in younger age groups.

Low levels of coronavirus cases and the availability of alternative vaccines have also informed the decision. Prof Wei Shen Lim, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said they were putting "a high priority on safety" and he expected the move would "serve to boost confidence" in the vaccination programme.

Immunisation is estimated to have already saved 10,000 lives in the UK

Public Health Wales' statement:

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “As of Monday 3 May, further relaxation of the regulations came into place, meaning that Wales is now in Alert Level 3.

“Two households can again form an exclusive extended household ‘bubble’ and can spend time indoors together. Supervised indoor activities for children can resume, along with indoor organised activities for up to 15 adults (such as exercise classes and swimming lessons), and community centres can reopen.

“People should observe social distancing when meeting with others from outside their household or bubble.

“We would remind the general public that it is still extremely important to follow social distancing and hygiene measures to prevent the transmission of coronavirus. That is, staying 2 metres from anyone you don’t live with, washing hands regularly and wearing face coverings in indoor settings.”