OVER 180 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Flintshire and Wrexham, the latest data shows.

Public Health Wales figures released on Thursday (January 28) show that 186 cases were confirmed in the counties between January 26 and 27.

Of these, 106 were in Wrexham and 80 in Flintshire. Despite the high number of cases confirmed on Thursday, Wrexham's seven-day infection rate per 100,000 population has now dropped to under 500 (477).

Flintshire's seven-day rate is now at 369 - with it remaining the second highest infection rate in Wales behind Wrexham.

Across the north Wales region as a whole, 268 new cases were confirmed in the latest 24-hour period.

Sadly, a further 59 people who had tested positive for coronavirus in the last 28 days across Wales, died in the period between January 26 and 27.

To date, 336,071 people in Wales have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, but only 674 have received both doses thus far.

Dr Eleri Davies, 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.

Dr Davies added: “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 because the new, more infectious variant of coronavirus is circulating across Wales it is vital that we all keep to the lockdown restrictions and do not meet other people."