ALMOST 80 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across our region by Public Health Wales (PHW) today.

There have now been 5,958 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 78 of today’s 596 newly confirmed Welsh cases were from the northern region and can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – Five (7.1 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Conwy – Four (3.4 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Denbighshire – 15 (15.7 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Flintshire – 18 (11.5 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Gwynedd – 14 (11.2 per 100,000 population as of today)

• Wrexham – 22 (16.2 per 100,000 population as of today)

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported no new deaths to date according to PHW data, recording 426 people that have sadly died.

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 574 for the health board area.

BCUHB stats:

• Confirmed cases – 5,958

• New cases from October 5 – 78

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 from September 21 to 27 – Anglesey (10.0), Conwy (46.1), Denbighshire (37.6), Flintshire (53.8), Gwynedd (14.5), Wrexham (43.4)

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 in week to September 28 to October 4 – Anglesey (14.3), Conwy (52.0), Denbighshire (60.6), Flintshire (70.5), Gwynedd (55.4), Wrexham (69.1)

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 596 COVID cases were confirmed in Monday’s figures, meaning that 26,447 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There were no newly reported deaths, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus stands at 1,630 in Wales.

Local lockdowns are currently in force for several areas of south Wales including Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen.

North Wales also came under local restrictions at the beginning of the month across Wrexham, Flintshire, Conwy and Denbighshire.

At present, Anglesey and Gwynedd are not being placed under the same rules.

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 in today’s latest statement that Gwynedd residents are seeing a rise in cases.

He said: “Local restrictions are now in place in Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, and Wrexham local authority areas, and in Llanelli.

“These arrangements are necessary in order to bring transmission of the virus under control in these areas. It is very important that we abide by the regulations in the areas in which we live, and that we do not travel between local authority areas without a reasonable excuse.

“We are now seeing an increase in cases in Gwynedd, and for that reason we to urge people to continue to follow the public health guidance: self-isolate when asked to do so, stay two metres away from others, and wash your hands regularly.

“These actions are essential in reducing spread of the virus, protecting older and vulnerable people, and keeping Wales safe.

“Following the introduction of restrictions in the borough of Caerphilly, our data is beginning to show a downward trend, and although we cannot categorically say this trend is a result of lockdown, we are cautiously optimistic and we are looking at a number of alternative sources to validate these results.”