Another 217 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the Hywel Dda area in 24 hours, according to the latest figures from Public Health Wales.

PHW figures for today, Wednesday, January 19, state there were 161 new cases in Carmarthenshire, 40 in Pembrokeshire and 16 in Ceredigion since the last report.

The total number of cases across the three counties now stands at 71,455 – 39,464 in Carmarthenshire, 21,611 in Pembrokeshire and 10,380 in Ceredigion.

Since January 6, Covid-19 testing policy has changed and asymptomatic people don’t have to do a PCR test following a positive lateral flow test.

There were two new Covid-related deaths recorded in the Hywel Dda area since the last report, with the total number 654 throughout the pandemic.

In total, 2,136 new cases of coronavirus and 23 new Covid-related deaths have been reported across Wales bringing the national total to 748,708 cases and 6,731 deaths.

There have been 9,651 tests done across the country since the last report.

Across Wales 2,502,979 have had their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 2,346,551 have had their second dose.

‘Booster’ doses have been given to 1,792,022 people and 53,078 people have received a three-dose primary course of Covid-19 vaccine.

Local democracy reporter Katy Jenkins