THE COVID picture across west Wales continues to be varied with Ceredigion continuing to have the lowest rate of infection and Gwynedd the highest.

The latest figures released by Public Health Wales this lunch time show that 2,154 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded across Wales along with seven new deaths.

Gwynedd has recorded 142 new cases today with the county’s rate of infection currently standing at 855.0 cases per 100,000 population, much higher than the national average of 502.0 cases.

Ceredigion currently has a rate of 266.9, nearly half the national average, and recorded 14 new cases today.

Elsewhere, Carmarthenshire has recorded 120 new cases today and has a rate of 492.1; Pembrokeshire has recorded 82 new cases, with a rate of 551.6 and Powys has recorded 80 cases leaving it with a rate of 475.7.

Of the seven deaths recorded across Wales today, four have been in the Hywel Dda Health Board region, with the total number of Covid-19 deaths now standing at 607.

No new deaths have been recorded in Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board in north Wales or in Powys, with their totals remaining at 1,095 and 82 respectively.

Following concerns over Christmas with Covid-19 cases on the rise across Europe and Northern Ireland reintroducing some lockdown measures such as asking people to work from home, Wales’ Economy Minister has offered hope by saying he feels Christmas celebrations this year to be “substantially better” than last year.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Vaughan Gething MS said: “I really don’t think we’re going to have to make the same sort of decisions we did last year unless there really is a vaccine-busting variant that would cause real concern for us.”