There has been a marked increase in new COVID-19 cases and sadly one new death in Wales during the past day.

Today Public Health Wales has reported 77 new cases with a significant spike in the Rhonnda Cynon Taff local authority area with 15 new cases and 8 in Cardiff. This contrasts with 8 cases in North Wales.

In the North, Wrexham continues to report more cases than the rest of the region. In last 24 hours there have been 5 new cases in that area.

Locally in Conwy there has been 2 cases in Conwy and one in Denbighshire. Other parts of North Wales have not recorded any new cases.

Dr Christopher Williams, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said in response to recent jump in cases:

“We are now seeing a steady increase in cases and our investigations show that many of these have been transmitted due to a lack of social distancing.

“This has resulted in the spread of the virus to other groups of people.

“We continue to appeal to everyone to please remember that, even if you feel that you would not be badly affected by COVID-19 if you were to test positive, should you pass it on to older or more vulnerable family members, friends or colleagues it could be extremely serious and even fatal."