TOMORROW’S ‘firebreak’ lockdown is coming at an extremely important time for Pembrokeshire as numbers of positive coronavirus cases rise in the county.

That’s the message from Pembrokeshire County Council ahead of restrictions kicking in across Wales at 6pm on Friday.

The Authority is urging people to follow the restrictions.

After months of very low numbers of cases, the county’s infection rate, which has been rising steadily since the middle of September, has now gone above 50 cases per 100,000 people – the rate at which local lockdown measures would have been considered by the Welsh Government.

Over the period October 12-18, there were 63 positive cases in Pembrokeshire, a rate of 50.1 cases per 100,000.

There were a further 11 cases across the county on Wednesday (October 21).

Cllr David Simpson, the leader of Pembrokeshire County Council, said: “I’ve seen it said in some quarters that Pembrokeshire is unlucky to be facing going into national lockdown because cases are so ‘low’.

“In fact, the rate has been rising in Pembrokeshire steadily and the county would now be considered for local lockdown restrictions anyway.

“We cannot be complacent. Cases are rising in Pembrokeshire and this firebreak is our opportunity to get these numbers back under control.

“If we all follow the restrictions, we can get back to the low numbers of infection that we thankfully saw for so long in Pembrokeshire.

“We must all take personal responsibility for doing what we can to prevent the further spread of Covid-19.”

Public Health Wales now publishes maps of cases for individual areas within local authority areas, allowing members of the public to see the rate of infection within their locality.

The maps and all Public Health Wales tables are updated daily at 2pm.