ALMOST 230 new COVID cases have been recorded in North Wales, public health officials report.

There have now been over 43,940 lab-confirmed cases of the virus identified from the combined counties since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed by Public Health Wales (PHW) in the latest figures released on July 29.

PHW confirmed that just 229 of the latest 724 Welsh cases came from the northern region.

They can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – 14 (20.0 per 100,000 population)

• Conwy – 46 (39.2 per 100,000 population)

• Denbighshire – 56 (58.1 per 100,000 population)

• Flintshire – 47 (30.1 per 100,000 population)

• Gwynedd – 23 (18.5 per 100,000 population)

• Wrexham – 43 (31.6 per 100,000 population)

BCUHB stats:

• Total confirmed COVID-19 cases from North Wales as of July 29 – 43,937

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported 959 people have sadly died since the start of the pandemic, according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 1,416 for the health board area.

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 724 COVID cases were confirmed in the latest figures, meaning that 240,019 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There were three new deaths reported on Thursday, with the figure at 5,606 across Wales since the start of the pandemic.

Headline figures show that, across Wales, 2,292,572 people have had their first COVID-19 jab. Of that figure, a total of 2,036,186 completed the two-dose treatment.