OVER 300 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across our region by Public Health Wales (PHW) today.

There have now been over 17,820 lab-confirmed cases of the virus from the combined counties that make up the North Wales region since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed in the latest figures released today.

Public Health Wales confirmed that the 304 of today’s 2,273 newly confirmed Welsh cases were from the northern region.

They can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – 11 (15.7 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Conwy – 20 (17.1 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Denbighshire – 29 (30.3 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Flintshire – 125 (80.1 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Gwynedd – 10 (8.0 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Wrexham – 109 (80.2 per 100,000 population as of today)

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported 581 people have sadly died to date according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 749 for the health board area.

BCUHB stats:

• Total confirmed cases as of December 28 – 17,826

• New cases from today (December 28) – 304

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 last week (December 21 to 27) – Anglesey (67.1), Conwy (104.9), Denbighshire (157.8), Flintshire (270.3), Gwynedd (57.8), Wrexham (373.6)

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 2,273 COVID cases were confirmed in Monday’s figures, meaning that 141,915 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There were 15 newly reported deaths, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus sadly stands at 3,383 in Wales.

This is what Public Health Wales' has to say:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We hope everyone has had a healthy and safe Christmas. The lockdown restrictions remain and we advise everyone to stay at home except for reasonable excuses, and to limit your social contacts.

“Under the new restrictions, people must stay at home, except for very limited purposes. People must not visit other households or meet other people they do not live with. Non-essential retail, close contact services, gyms and leisure centres, and hospitality will be closed.

“As indicated by the Welsh Government, the immediate introduction of new restrictions is related to the identification of a new more transmissible variant of Coronavirus. Public Health Wales has been working with UK partners to investigate and respond to this variant.”

Dr Shankar adds that it is “normal” for viruses to undergo mutations, and it is something that health officials expected to happen.

He continued: “Although the variant is easier to transmit, there is currently no evidence that it is more severe. We are reminding people that all current guidance relating to Coronavirus continues to apply to the new variant, including advice relating to symptoms, social distancing, self-isolation, and vaccination.”

It was also clarified in this latest statement that Public Health Wales would not be reporting coronavirus data on its dashboard or social media channels on New Year’s Day (January 1) and the backlog will come through the system the following day on January 2.

Dr Shankar stressed: “This will not affect individuals receiving their results, and anyone who tests positive will be contacted by their local authority’s Test, Trace, Protect team in the usual way.”