70 additional deaths and 4,142 Covid-19 cases reported in Wales
A further 70 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus with 4,142 Covid-19 cases reported by Public Health Wales.
Public Health Wales said these latest figures cover a 48 hour period - 9am 24th December to 9am 26th December - instead of the usual 24 hour period.
This takes the total number of coronavirus related deaths in Wales to 3,368 and there have been 139,642 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Dr Giri Shankar, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “We hope everyone has had a healthy and safe Christmas. The lockdown restrictions remain and we advise everyone to stay at home except for reasonable excuses, and to limit your social contacts.
“Please note that our daily figures published at midday today cover a 48 hour period (from 9am 24th December to 9am 26th December) instead of the usual 24 hour period.
“Travellers who have been in or transited through South Africa in the last 10 days are no longer allowed into the UK. Any passengers returning to Wales from South Africa since 14 December 2020 have been contacted by Public Health Wales and will take a COVID test as advised."
Hospitals across Wales have faced an "extremely busy" few days as they try to deal with coronavirus patients on top of normal winter pressures.
The boss of the firm behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has raised hopes it is more effective than first thought amid the rapid spread of the UK virus strain across the globe.
AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot told the Sunday Times he believed researchers had found the "winning formula" using two doses and promised to publish the results as reports suggested the UK regulator could approve the jab within days.
The claim will come as some relief even as Canada became the latest country to identify cases of the new highly infectious variant of coronavirus, which was first detected in the UK and has since spread to at least a dozen countries.