THIRTY new positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in Powys in the last 24 hours, according to Public Health Wales (PHW) stats.

There has been one more death over the last few days according to those PHW figures, which put deaths due to the virus since the pandemic began at 41, although that number remains at 160, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.

The cumulative number of cases in the county since the pandemic began now stands at 3,344.

Deaths of Powys residents can be skewed because many of the county’s patients deemed acute are transferred to hospitals in England. ONS figures are therefore usually considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.

The overall rate of cases in Powys and Wales continues to fall, with the rate of new cases per 100,000 people in Powys now down to 155.5 according to today’s stats.

It comes as the chief executive of Powys Teaching Health Board praised “a new milestone” made by the organisation after 5,000 doses of the vaccine were administered in the county last week.

Carol Shillabeer spoke of the “excellent progress” made by the health board – which has handed out 41 per cent of the county’s doses in the last week. It means 12,000 Powys residents have now received the coronavirus vaccine.

“The Covid-19 vaccination has now reached a new milestone, with 12,000 vaccinations delivered through our programme in the county,” said Ms Shillabeer in the health board’s latest weekly newsletter release.

“When I was writing last week’s newsletter our total stood at just over 7,000 which is excellent progress in just one week.”

Powys stats:

Confirmed cases – 3,344

New cases in January 25 data – 30

Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to January 20 – 155.5

Powys position among Welsh local authorities for rate of new cases – 12th out of 22

Newly-confirmed cases day-by-day:

Monday, January 25 – 30

Saturday/Sunday, January 23/24 – 57

Friday, January 22 – 17

Thursday, January 21 – 48

Wednesday, January 20 – 33

Tuesday, January 19 – 23

Monday, January 18 – 35

The national picture:

A further 23 people have died with Covid in Wales, taking the total death figure to 4,553, PHW has said.

They have also recorded another 872 cases, meaning the total number of cases now stands at 188,583.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board area in south Wales has seen the highest number of Covid deaths reported on Monday, with nine, taking its total to 1,319, the highest in Wales.

There were six more deaths in Aneurin Bevan in south east Wales, and three each in north Wales' Betsi Cadwaladr health board and mid and west Wales' Hywel Dda.

Swansea Bay and Cardiff and Vale health boards both recorded one further death each.

A total of 270,833 people have now received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine in Wales. The number who have received two doses stands at 543.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it means 8.7 per cent of the population of Wales had now had their first jab.

Cardiff had the highest number of new Covid cases reported on Monday, at 118. Wrexham is next at 70, Flintshire had 64, Rhondda Cynon Taf had 63 and Carmarthenshire 58.

The seven-day case rate across Wales as a whole has dropped to 231 cases per 100,000 people, down from 245 on Sunday.

Wrexham is still the county with the highest Covid case rate at 551.6 cases per 100,000 people.

Mr Gething says the Welsh Government continues “to make good progress” rolling out more vaccines and more clinics across Wales.

Speaking at today's coronavirus briefing, he said the vaccine programme had “quickly gathered pace” with a “sharp acceleration” in the number of vaccines given as supplies have increased.

“We have opened more vaccine centres and GPs practices around Wales,” Mr Gething said.

“This week, all 16 GP practices in Powys will start vaccinating people.

“The first three community vaccination centres opened at the weekend in north Wales and Bridgend to provide vaccines for 3,000 people. We are continuing to develop this model”, he added.

Meanwhile, volunteers helped to clear up to 7cm of snow at a community hospital so Covid-19 vaccines could be given to about 300 vulnerable patients.

More than a dozen people cleared the car park at Maesteg community hospital in Bridgend on Sunday where the Pfizer-BioNtech jab is being administered.

People with brushes and shovels came to the rescue after a Facebook appeal and Bridgend council provided a plough. One local councillor said their community spirit "knows no bounds".

Public Health Wales' statement:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales is working with Public Health England and other UK partners to monitor the impact and spread of the UK variant, and to detect and monitor other virus variants. As reported last week, there is evidence which suggests that the UK variant of concern may lead to a higher risk of death than the non-variant.

“We continue to investigate and respond to the spread of the variant and its impact in Wales. Evidence is still emerging and more work is underway to fully understand how it behaves.

“It is important to remember that all current variants of Covid-19 are still spreading and can cause severe illness and death. Therefore it is important to stay at home, and to reduce opportunities for spread by keeping your distance, washing hands regularly, and covering your face.

“All of Wales remains in lockdown. We ask that the public adopts the same mindset for this lockdown as they did in March 2020. We understand that people are fatigued but because the new, more infectious variant of coronavirus is circulating across Wales it is vital that we all keep to the lockdown restrictions and do not meet other people.”