The leader of Ceredigion council has said an October ‘firebreak’ lockdown would be considered if coronavirus cases continue to rise.

Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn updated Ceredigion County Council’s Cabinet this morning on the Covid-19 situation in the county and said she had been in an earlier national meeting with education officers and union members.

“The numbers are increasing everywhere and everyone is concerned once again about how things will be – there might be a ‘firebreak’ lockdown over half term but that’s not confirmed yet at all,” said Cllr ap Gwynn.

She added that there were already cases “coming through our schools” with 27 over the weekend and the cross-county figures showing 123 cases on 6 September and a further 63 on 7 September, with Ceredigion faring better than neighbouring counties when it came to overall figures.

There are currently 13 people with Covid-19 in Bronglais, added Cllr ap Gwynn, as well as 37 in Glangwili and eight in Withybush.

Eight of the county’s care homes are currently in ‘red’, with two homes recently moving out of ‘red’ to ‘green’.Cllr ap Gwynn assuring members it was staff that were affected rather than residents, with this also having an impact on the wider care sector.

Cllr ap Gwynn urged people to get their Covid-19 vaccination, adding “the pandemic is not over, and we still have to be vigilant”.

Latest figures released this lunchtime show that three new deaths have been recorded in Wales with 2,504 new cases, taking the rate of infection in Wales to 468.6 cases per 100,000.

63 of those new cases have been recorded in Ceredigion with 174 in Carmarthenshire and 107 in Pembrokeshire.

Powys has recorded 73 new cases with 101 in Gwynedd.

The rate of infection in Ceredigion is currently the highest it’s ever been, standing at 364.5 cases per 100,000 population.

Certain areas of the county are even higher - Aberystwyth South at 687.3/100,000; Lampeter and Llanfihangel Ystrad at 400.3/100,000; Beulah, Troedyraur and Llandysul at 324.8/100,000 and Borth and Bontgoch at 389.8/100,000.

Most areas in Ceredigion are above 230 per 100,000 which shows that the virus is spreading very quickly within the community and we are expecting the number of cases to increase further over the coming days and weeks.

In addition, the percentage of those being tested testing positive have increased to 16.9 per cent, which is a significant concern.

The data shows us that the majority of these cases are in those aged 25 and under, which for Ceredigion currently stands at 555.5/100,000 of the population and increasing.

The council says we are also seeing a number of cases in children under 10.

Public Health Wales data shows there were 174 new cases in Carmarthenshire, 107 in Pembrokeshire and 63 in Ceredigion since the last report.

No new Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded in the Hywel Dda area, with the total now 495 for the duration of the pandemic.

In total 2,504 new cases of coronavirus have been reported across Wales today bringing the national total to 296,310 cases.

There have been 17,486 tests done since the last report.

There were three new Welsh Covid-related deaths reported, with the total across Wales 5,702 deaths.