'Not out of the woods yet' despite steady fall in coronavirus cases

  • Watch Wednesday's press briefing in full

Cases of coronavirus have fallen in all parts of Wales - but we are "not out of the woods yet", the chief medical officer has warned.

Dr Frank Atherton said the seven-day case rate for Wales is currently around 200 cases per 100,000 people.

This is significantly lower than in the weeks before Christmas, when rates stood at around 650 cases per 100,000 people.

In addition, the reproductive (R) rate - which represents how many people an infected person will pass the virus on to - stands at between 0.7 and 0.9.

A figure below 1 suggests the epidemic is retreating.

Speaking at the Welsh Government's daily briefing, Dr Atherton said: "All this tells us that transmission of the infection is slowing and the size of the current outbreak is shrinking.

"This is positive news but we are not out of the woods yet.

"At 200 cases per 100,000 people, levels of coronavirus are still very high.

"And the impact continues to be felt across the NHS – services remain under sustained pressure, although there are some signs that the number of people being admitted with coronavirus symptoms is beginning to stabilise.

"We are also seeing some small but early signs of an easing in demand for critical care. But we have yet to see the falls in community transmission work their way through to the NHS."

Dr Atherton also warned: "If we are all going to stay safe in the weeks and months ahead, we all need to behave as though no-one has had the vaccine yet."

The latest figures show more than 312,000 people have had their first dose of the vaccine.

Dr Atherton said: "We’re focusing on vaccinating everyone working and living in care homes by the end of the month to meet the next marker in our Vaccination Strategy.

"And we’re on course for our first milestone of offering vaccines to the first four priority groups by mid-February."

It comes after the Welsh Government missed its target of vaccinating 70% of over-80s by January 25.

Also speaking at today's briefing was Dr Rob Orford, chief scientific adviser for health in the Welsh Government and co-chair of the Technical Advisory Group.

Dr Orford gave an update on the different strains of coronavirus - in particular, the Kent variant, which emerged in the autumn.

He said: "It has quickly spread across Wales becoming the dominant strain in most parts of the country. It is now present in all regions of Wales at levels of 50% or more.

"We believe this strain has been driving the high rates of cases we have seen both before and after Christmas."

The new strain is more contagious and travels very quickly, causing more people to catch coronavirus, Dr Orford said.

But scientists cannot say definitively that the strain is more deadly.

Experts are also closely tracking three other new variants, which have emerged in close succession in South Africa and Brazil.

To date, there have been 10 cases of the South African variant identified in Wales. All have been imported cases from people who have travelled abroad.