A SMALL number of COVID cases have been recorded in Wales after the Bank Holiday weekend data lag, public health officials report.

There have now been over 35,000 lab-confirmed cases of the virus identified from the combined counties since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed by Public Health Wales (PHW) in the latest figures released on May 4.

PHW confirmed that 12 of the latest 65 Welsh cases (18.4 per cent) came from the northern region.

They can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – 2 (2.9 per 100,000 population)

• Conwy – 2 (1.7 per 100,000 population)

• Denbighshire – 0 (0 per 100,000 population)

• Flintshire – 3 (1.9 per 100,000 population)

• Gwynedd – 2 (1.6 per 100,000 population)

• Wrexham – 3 (2.2 per 100,000 population)

BCUHB stats:

• Total confirmed COVID-19 cases from North Wales as of May 4 – 35,021

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported 945 people have sadly died since the start of the pandemic, according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 1,393 for the health board area.

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 65 COVID cases were confirmed in the latest figures, meaning that 211,638 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There was one reported death on Tuesday, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus remains at 5,551 in Wales.

Headline figures show that, across Wales, over 1.86m people have had their first COVID-19 jab.

Of that figure, over 772,500 have completed the two-dose treatment.

This is what Public Health Wales has to say:

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, gave a statement following more rules being relaxed in the country.

He said: “As of yesterday, Monday May 3, further relaxation of the regulations came into place, meaning that Wales is now in Alert Level 3.

“Two households can again form an exclusive extended household ‘bubble’, and can spend time indoors together. Supervised indoor activities for children can resume, along with indoor organised activities for up to 15 adults (such as exercise classes and swimming lessons), and community centres can reopen.

“People should observe social distancing when meeting with others from outside their household or bubble.

“We would remind the general public that it is still extremely important to follow social distancing and hygiene measures to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.

"That is, staying 2m from anyone you don’t live with, washing hands regularly and wearing face coverings in indoor settings.”

Dr Shankar also urged those that may have been missed off in the vaccine roll out so far to get in contact with their health board.

He said: “We urge anyone over 50 who has not yet received an invite for their vaccination to contact their local health board.

“We encourage everyone, whatever their background, social demographic and ethnicity, to have the vaccine when they are offered it.”

Details of what to do if you believe you should have been contacted by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board about your jab by now, and haven’t, can be found online at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/covid-vaccination-50-and-over/.