Covid: Infections in Wales continue to fall

One in 40 people in Wales had Covid in the latest week of data, according to the Office for National Statistics.

An estimated 72,600 people were infected in the week ending 8 August - 2.39% of the population.

That is fewer than the ONS's last survey two weeks ago when 108,800 people were estimated to have the virus.

The recent trend has been falling after a rise for six successive weeks in May and June.

For the past two years, the ONS has organised a weekly swab survey involving thousands of households.

It was paused last week for a change in how the survey is organised and now involves those people who agree to take part being sent test kits by post.

It has become the most important tool to measure the level of infections following the end of mass testing at the end of March and with a fall in the number of people taking lateral flow tests too.

Infections are estimated to be lower in Wales than Scotland and all English regions apart from the south-west and the east.

ONS estimates infections to involve one in 40 people in England, one in 30 in Scotland and one in 50 in Northern Ireland.

Broken down, daily estimates of infection are highest in people in their late 50s.

Meanwhile, Digital Health and Care Wales figures show the number of patients testing positive in hospital has dropped by 48% in the past month.

About 87% of these patients have "incidental" Covid, so are being treated for something else. More than half of those testing positive in the last week caught Covid in hospital.

Numbers of admissions and those with Covid in critical care are roughly the same as a week ago, while those with Covid in hospital beds is slightly up.

The number of people who have died when Covid was a contributory factor has passed 10,650.

But the number of deaths involving Covid in 2022 is about half compared to the same point in 2021.

In the most recent week, up to 5 August, 39 people had a death registered which involved Covid-19 and saw it included as a contributory factor on their death certificate, according to the ONS.

That compared to 62 in the previous week.

About two-thirds of deaths where Covid is mentioned on death certificates have the virus as the underlying cause and approximately 72% of deaths involved people over 75.

Deaths were spread across all health board areas, while there were no deaths involving Covid in only one county, Blaenau Gwent.