Fifteen new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Ceredigion, according to official figures.

The latest figures released this lunchtime by Public Health Wales show that 25 new Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded in Wales, taking the total number of fatalities since the pandemic began to 3,645.

15 new cases of the virus have been confirmed in Ceredigion over the past day, with Pembrokeshire recording 23 and Carmarthenshire 116.

Gwynedd also recorded 15 new cases while Powys reported 47 new cases.

To date, Hywel Dda Health Board, which covers Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, has administered 5,138 vaccines with plans to rollout the Oxford vaccine this week.

Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board in North Wales has vaccinated 4,747 people, while Powys has given the first dose of the vaccine to 3,861 people.

Giving the daily update, Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the 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, which starts this week.

“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 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 clinic which will have been set up to ensure patient safety and that of the healthcare professionals.

“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.”