Daily coronavirus cases higher than April as four areas approach local lockdown
There have been 281 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours as four more areas in Wales prepare for local lockdown.
The latest figures, released by Public Health Wales, mean that there have been 21,159 cases of the virus in the country.
There were no new confirmed deaths with the total in Wales remaining at 1,603.
The figures also showed that there were 9,780 tests carried out on Monday, taking the total number of tests in the country to 741,741.
The number of cases confirmed on Tuesday have not been that high since the height of the pandemic on 20 April.
There were:
77 cases confirmed in Rhondda Cynon Taf
34 cases confirmed in Bridgend
30 cases confirmed in Cardiff
28 cases confirmed in Swansea
The percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are positive shows Merthyr Tydfil has the highest rate at 11.4%, followed by Blaenau Gwent and Rhondda Cynon Taf. This gives an indication how widespread infection is in the area where testing is taking place.
The increasing number of coronavirus cases has led to numerous lockdowns being implemented locally.
Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf are already in lockdown, with measures introduced over the last two weeks.
From Tuesday at 6pm Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport will also follow them, having restrictions put in place.
These new measures mean that roughly 27% of the Welsh population will be in lockdown.
Dr Giri Shankar, of Public Health Wales said the organisation welcomes the local lockdown sanctions imposed by the government to help prevent the spread of the virus.
“Public Health Wales welcomes the new local restrictions being brought in by Welsh Government," he said.
"We are continuing to see a steady increase in cases in many communities across Wales, and our investigations show that many of these have been transmitted due to a lack of social distancing.
“The council areas of Cardiff, Swansea, the Vale of Glamorgan, Carmarthen, Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire are all areas of concern to us and we are watching the data from there carefully, but numbers of cases are increasing in all parts of Wales so there is no room for complacency in any area."