Coronavirus cases across Wales continue to fall with just five new cases recorded in Ceredigion today.

The latest figures, released this lunchtime by Public Health Wales, show that 537 new cases of Covid-19 were identified across Wales in the last 24 hours, but 49 deaths were also recorded over the same time period.

These new deaths take the total in Wales since the pandemic began in March last year to 4,610, with the UK as a whole recording over 100,000 deaths yesterday.

Three of the latest deaths were recorded in the Hywel Dda area, with a total of 344 throughout the pandemic.

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board in North Wales has now recorded 717 deaths while Powys Health Board has recorded 42.

The latest daily figures show that five cases were recorded in Ceredigion and Gwynedd yesterday, with Powys recording six cases, Pembrokeshire, 14 and Carmarthenshire, 25.

Across Wales 312,305 have received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 639 the second dose, with PHW adding that these figures are a daily snapshot and data entry a time of reporting is incomplete so the number vaccinated will be higher.

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We are increasingly confident in the data which is showing a consistent downward trend in the numbers of positive cases in Wales.

“However, the number of cases is still extremely high, and this is placing extreme pressure on our NHS Wales hospitals.

“The UK variant of coronavirus prevalent in many parts of Wales is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, and as reported last week there is evidence which suggests that it may lead to a higher risk of death than the non-variant.

"It is therefore vital that everyone continues to remain vigilant, by staying at home and sticking to the rules. This way we will avoid adding to the pressure on hospitals and will keep people safe.

“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.

“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.”