CORONAVIRUS infection rates continue to fall in Flintshire and Wrexham, the latest data shows.

Public Health Wales figures released on Wednesday (January 27) show that between January 25 and 26, 89 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the two counties.

Of these, 59 were in Wrexham and 30 in Flintshire. Wrexham's seven-day infection rate per 100,000 population now stands at 503.1, while Flintshire's is at 384.4.

These remain the two highest infection rates in Wales but are down significantly from where they were just a couple of weeks ago - with Wrexham's having been up at nearly 1,000.

Across the north Wales region as a whole, 136 new cases were confirmed in the latest 24-hour period.

Sadly, a further 49 people who had tested positive for coronavirus in the last 28 days died in the period between January 25 and 26.

To date, 312,305 people in Wales have had at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccinations - roughly 10 per cent of the country's population.

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We are increasingly confident in the data which is showing a consistent downward trend in the numbers of positive cases in Wales.

“However, the number of cases is still extremely high, and this is placing extreme pressure on our NHS Wales hospitals.

“The UK variant of coronavirus prevalent in many parts of Wales is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, and as reported last week there is evidence which suggests that it may lead to a higher risk of death than the non-variant. It is therefore vital that everyone continues to remain vigilant, by staying at home and sticking to the rules. This way we will avoid adding to the pressure on hospitals and will keep people safe.

"Public Health Wales is working with Public Health England and other UK partners to monitor the impact and spread of the UK variant, and to detect and monitor other virus variants.

“We continue to investigate and respond to the spread of the variant and its impact in Wales. Evidence is still emerging and more work is underway to fully understand how it behaves."