Over 4,000 people have now died from coronavirus in Wales since the start of the pandemic following the confirmation of 66 deaths today.

These new suspected Covid-19 deaths, confirmed today by Public Health Wales, take the total number of fatalities from the virus in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 4,063.

Of those deaths, 291 have been recorded by Hywel Dda Health Board, which covers Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, while 630 have been registered by Betsi Cadwaladr in North Wales.

Powys Health Board has registered 37 deaths.

New cases continue to rise across Wales, but at a slower pace than in recent weeks, with 1,533 cases recorded today.

Ceredigion has recorded 23 new cases today while 90 were recorded in Carmarthenshire and 24 in Pembrokeshire.

Gwynedd has recorded 22 new cases today while Powys has recorded 18.

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “The number of positive Coronavirus cases remains extremely high in Wales and is cause for serious concern.

“All of Wales remains in lockdown. We ask that the public adopts the same mindset for this lockdown as they did in March 2020. We understand that people are fatigued but with a more transmissible variant of coronavirus circulating across Wales it is vital that we all keep to the lockdown restrictions in place.

“This means stay at home. If exercising outdoors, please do this alone or with members of your household or support bubble. Shop online but if you do need to visit essential retail do this alone. If you must leave home keep your distance, wash your hands regularly, and wear a face mask.

“Public Health Wales urges everyone to follow the rules, to avoid transmission of the coronavirus and to protect everyone in our communities, including the most vulnerable.

“The rollout of the Pfizer BioNTech and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines continues in Wales with the the recently Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved Moderna vaccine to be incorporated into the programme soon.”