OVER 600 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in North Wales, the latest data shows. 

Public Health Wales figures released on Sunday (January 3) show that there have been 658 new cases confirmed in the last 48 hour period of data gathering. 

Of these, the majority (520) were in the Flintshire and Wrexham areas.

Wrexham's seven-day infection rate per 100,000 population has now grown to 669 - putting it the third highest among Wales counties. 

A full breakdown of the new cases is as follows: 

  • Anglesey - 25 (1,200 in total)
  • Conwy - 32 (2,305 in total)
  • Denbighshire - 67 (2,679 in total)
  • Flintshire - 232 (5,373 in total)
  • Gwynedd - 14 (1,773 in total)
  • Wrexham - 281 (6,935 in total)

Public Health Wales says that due to Bank Holiday arrangements, the data released today - Sunday January 3 - will be as at 9am on January 2. It is important to note that the data will cover a 48 hour period (from 9am on 31 December to 9am January 2) instead of the usual 24 hour period and so should be interpreted with caution, as it is likely to be around double the usual 24 hour value.

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: With vaccinations for COVID-19 progressing, we welcome the announcement by the Welsh Government of the roll-out of the second Coronavirus vaccine (from Oxford/AstraZeneca) in Wales.

“The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has issued a short statement outlining the case for optimising the vaccine programme within the UK to achieve maximum short term impact. 

“Vaccinating the adult population of Wales, to protect people from severe disease, is a significant task, and the vaccine will take time to reach everyone. The epidemiology of COVID-19 throughout the UK in late 2020 showed a clear need for rapid, high levels of vaccine uptake among vulnerable persons. 

“The JCVI supports a two-dose vaccine schedule for the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines. Given the data available, and evidence from the use of many other vaccines, Public Health Wales fully supports the JCVI advice to increase a maximum interval between the first and second doses of 12 weeks for both vaccines.

“It can be assumed that protection from the first dose will wane in the medium term, and the second dose will still be required to provide more durable protection. The JCVI advises initially prioritising delivery of the first vaccine dose as this is highly likely to have a greater public health impact in the short term and reduce the number of preventable deaths from COVID-19.

“Members of the public should not to phone your GP, pharmacy or hospital asking when they will get a vaccine. When someone is in one of the groups eligible for the vaccine, they will be invited to attend a dedicated clinc which will have been set up to ensure patient safety and that of the healthcare professionals."

Dr Shankar added: "The effects of the vaccines may not be seen nationally for some time, and with Wales at alert level four we must continue to follow the advice on keeping Wales safe.  Stay at home, meet only the people you live with, maintain social distancing, wash your hands regularly, and work from home if you can.

“As indicated by the Welsh Government, the new restrictions were brought forward due 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.

“It is normal for viruses to undergo mutations, and we expect this to happen.  Although the variant is easier to transmit, there is currently no evidence that it is more severe."