DOZENS of new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in North Wales in the last day, health chiefs have said.

Public Health Wales figures show that 44 new cases have been confirmed in the region in the last 24 hours.

The total number of confirmed cases in North Wales now sits at 2282, 220 people who had tested positive for coronavirus in the region having sadly died.

Nine more deaths were confirmed in Wales, with 166 new cases nationwide taking Wales' total to 12,846 confirmed cases.

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales has been working in partnership with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics on new Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) antibody tests.

"In South Wales production is now well underway on the tests, which can detect antibodies that can be used to identify an immune response and may be critical in back-to-work strategies.

“Antibody testing is an important part of our strategy to counter the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and to help us understand who has had the disease. Knowing that the production of the test will be local to us in Wales was of great importance to us as we determined which suppliers to rely on.

“Anyone experiencing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms can now apply for a home testing kit using the new UK online portal. For further information and a link to the booking website, visit: www.gov.wales/coronavirus or www.llyw.cymru/coronafeirws. This will be supported by a national 119 phone service, through which people can also order a home test."