Wales sees no new coronavirus deaths for fifth time this week and the 11th time this month

Wales has recorded no new coronavirus deaths for the fifth time this week. Public Health Wales (PHW) announced on Saturday, July 25, that the number of deaths with lab-confirmed Covid-19 since the outbreak began remained at 1,548.

There have now been no new deaths reported by the NHS trust on 11 occasions this month (July 6, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24 and 25).

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean no-one died with the virus on those specific dates as it can take several days for a death to be logged officially.

Meanwhile, PHW has said the number of lab-confirmed positive cases of  coronavirus  in Wales has increased by 30 to bring the total to 17,105.

Wrexham recorded the most positive cases with 11, followed by Cardiff and Flintshire with four each.

Caerphilly, Newport, Torfaen, Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Neath Port Talbot all had no new cases.

Despite testing capacity standing at 15,000 each day in Wales, 5,865 were used on Friday, July 24.

Find out the number of cases in your area using this tool:

The latest figures were announced on the day it was confirmed that campsites and tourist accommodation with shared facilities, such as hotels, could re-open. 

On Monday, July 27, cinemas, museums, and beauty salons are set to open their doors as well and a new rule making it compulsory to wear a face covering on public transport comes into force.

The following businesses are able to open their doors on Monday:

• beauty salons
• nail parlours
• tattoo shops
• cinemas
• amusement arcades
• museums and galleries

Cumulative number of deaths reported in Wales

Public Health Wales has confirmed that there have been no further cases of coronavirus found associated with an outbreak at the 2 Sisters factory in Anglesey.

Dr Chris Williams, incident director for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “The total therefore remains at 221 cases linked to the outbreak.  The fact that no new cases have been recorded is a positive sign, and indicates that control measures have been effective.

“The focused testing programme has been concluded, and there is no evidence of wider community transmission resulting from the outbreak. As long as there is no change to this position, then we will look to formally bring this outbreak to a close in the near future.”

Since the start of July the amount of coronavirus transmission in Welsh hospitals has declined to almost zero across much of Wales but there has been a large increase in hospital-based transmission in the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board area for the past two weeks.

Last week 31 people caught the virus in hospitals run by the health board when they were there for non coronavirus reasons. The rest of Wales only saw five.

Gill Harris, executive director of nursing and midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “Although the number of cases of COVID-19 in North Wales is currently low, over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Wrexham area.

“We ask that people continue to avoid coming into our hospitals with any COVID-19 symptoms and avoid visiting the Wrexham Maelor Hospital Emergency Department unless it is necessary. We are now actively encouraging patients, the public and staff to wear face coverings or masks in public areas of all Health Board sites. More information about this will follow in the coming days.

“COVID-19 is highly infectious and it can be challenging to prevent the spread of the virus and although we have taken a range of actions, we appeal to the public for their support as we all have a role to play in preventing the spread of infection. We ask that our communities continue to maintain good hand hygiene and observe social distancing guidance.”