It is looking very quiet on the roads in south Wales this afternoon as people continue to stay at home to limit the spread of coronavirus.

There have been 14 new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales, Public Health Wales has said.

This brings the total number of deaths linked to Covid-19 to 62.

There were 210 new cases of the virus, bringing the total confirmed cases in Wales to 1,451.

This is the largest daily increase announced so far.

However, PHW stressed the true number of cases was likely to be much higher.

Stagecoach has announced further changes to its timetables on bus routes in south Wales.

The new timetables , externalwill be effective from Wednesday.

It had already suspended all Sunday services.

Postal workers have claimed sorting offices are a "breeding ground" for coronavirus.

Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly member Llyr Gruffydd has written to Royal Mail bosses after concerns were raised by staff in north Wales about the lack of protection and social distancing.

Mr Gruffydd said: "I accept it's difficult to strike a balance between delivering an essential service and maintaining the best possible health standards for postal workers and the general public.

"But it's vital that postal workers are not put at unnecessary risk because social distancing isn't being maintained in sorting offices.

"The last thing we need is for postal workers to become unwitting transmitters of the virus to the wider community due to a lack of protective equipment and the proximity of working within the sorting offices.

"On behalf of concerned postal workers I've asked whether the Royal Mail can tell me what steps have been taken to ensure adequate social distancing and that the virus is not unwittingly spread by postal workers going about their work?"

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

An MP has called for the Welsh Government to put planning applications on hold during the coronavirus crisis.

Sarah Atherton, Conservative member for Wrexham, wrote to First Minister Mark Drakeford, calling for the move.

She said on Twitter communities needed to be "properly consulted".

There have been 14 new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales, Public Health Wales has said.

This brings the total number of deaths to 62.

There were 210 new cases of the virus, bringing total confirmed cases in Wales to 1,451.

PHW stressed the true number of cases was likely to be much higher.

Parents of children on free school meals are to be paid dinner money by Rhondda Cynon Taf council.

The authority will stop providing food this coming Friday, 3 April.

It will begin making bank transfers from next Monday.

Parents will be given £19.50 a week after they apply for the payment.

The council said parents were expected to spend the money on food for their children.

Councillor Joy Rosser, Rhondda Cynon Taf’s cabinet member for education, urged parents and carers to apply for the money as soon as they receive a letter from the council.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Building work continues apace in Llanelli, where the indoor training centre at Parc y Scarlets is being transformed into a temporary coronavirus hospital which will provide up to 500 beds.

Scarlets' general rugby manager Jon Daniels told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers: "It's certainly something that you don't do everyday but these are unique times.

"It's about creating, transforming the stadium in to a suitable care facility.

"It will now be fully floored, everything vinyl lined. There'll be sinks, there'll be plumbing in there, electrical socket points, heating, fans rotating air around the building.

"It's a transformation, it's completely different, nothing like what it's usually used for.

"It's remarkable the scale of the change that's happened in just one week."

There have been 14 new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales, Public Health Wales has said.

This brings the total number of deaths linked to Covid-19 to 62.

There were 210 new cases of the virus, bringing the total confirmed cases in Wales to 1,451.

PHW stressed the true number of cases was likely to be much higher.

Image source, LDRS

Wales should get more money to deal with coronavirus because of the legacy of mining and heavy industries on the population's health, the first minister has said.

Speaking during today's Welsh Government coronavirus update, Mark Drakeford said he recognised additional money had come to Wales as a consequence of extra spending by the UK Government.

However, he said the calculation should be based on need, not population share.

"We have an older, sicker population," the first minister said.

"Our history of coal mining and heavy industry means we have people with breathing problems that the coronavirus is particularly likely to affect."

BrightHouse - the UK's biggest dealer in rent-to-own household goods - has collapsed, with administrators now attempting to salvage parts of the business.

Customers should continue to make the monthly payments required to keep their goods, with administrators now acting as the collecting agent.

BrightHouse has stores in Cardiff, Bridgend and Merthyr Tydfil, among other locations in Wales.

The firm had been struggling after an influx of compensation claims for selling to people who could not repay.

Its shops were then shut owing to coronavirus restrictions on retailers.

Image source, SOPA IMAGES

There have been 14 new coronavirus deaths confirmed in Wales, Public Health Wales has said.

It takes the total number of deaths to 62.

There were 210 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Wales to 1,451, although PHW stressed the true number of cases was likely to be much higher.

Covid-19 incident director Dr Giri Shankar said: “We offer our condolences to families and friends affected, and we ask those reporting on the situation to respect patient confidentiality.

“Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is now circulating in every part of Wales.

"The single most important action we can all take in fighting coronavirus is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS, and save lives.

“We know that staying at home can be hard, and we want to thank each and every person across Wales for doing their bit to help slow the spread of the virus.”

Image source, Getty Images

Some NHS staff say they are struggling to find childcare for young children due to nursery closures as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

One nursery owner said there was little incentive for childcare settings to stay open due to the costs of paying staff to look after only a handful of children.

Nurseries are only allowed to provide childcare for children of key workers and vulnerable children as part of the Welsh Government response to the pandemic.

At the end of last week ministers extended a grant scheme to cover childcare businesses.

The Aneurin Bevan health board area may be a coronavirus "hotspot" because a member of staff at the health board contracted the disease, the first minister said at the press conference.

“It looks like there’s more there because we’ve tested more people than elsewhere,” Mark Drakeford said.

He said there was also a degree of randomness about the emergence of hotspots.

“It had a very early case of a member of health board staff acquiring the virus, and therefore testing in Gwent was carried out more widely and earlier than other parts of Wales, and we may be partly picking up parts of that," Mr Drakeford said.

He said there was evidence the disease was moving from east to west of the UK - Newport is on the eastern border of Wales.

Mr Drakeford said coronavirus fatal locations were not being released to protect patient confidentiality.

He said about a thousand tests a day were being carried out across Wales.

The first minister said at today's press conference that the antibody test that allows people to know whether they have had Covid-19 and therefore have future immunity will be rolled out as soon "as it has been validated".

"The first call for it would be for front-line NHS staff, because again, we want to make sure that as many of those are able to carry on working as possible.

"We will then extend it inside the NHS and and out to social care workers and then we will move on to other groups beyond that."

Mark Drakeford says he has “no doubt at all” the restrictions will go beyond three weeks and warned individuals and businesses to expect a “long haul”.

He was responding to comments made by England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jenny Harries, who said she expected the restrictions to continue for up to six months.

Mr Drakeford said: “There is no doubt at all that we are facing restrictions beyond the three weeks of the immediate period that we made on Monday of last week.

“I think there will be a gradual reduction in restrictions over time.

“We may need significant restrictions for longer than the original three weeks and beyond that period there will be time when we don’t just go from everything being restricted to nothing being restricted. That’s going to be a long haul, a difficult haul for individuals and businesses.”

The first minster says the government is "disappointed" at last week's collapse of a deal with a firm to provide extra coronavirus testing in Wales.

However, he says it is unlikely to affect the number of tests which will be provided as health services can draw on a "wider consortium" of providers.

"So, we have plans to extend the number of tests in Wales," he said.

At the weekend, the health minister announced a deal to add 5,000 daily tests to the previous 500.

The current curbs on public life may need to be extended, Labour AM for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, Dawn Bowden has tweeted.

The rules on staying home were initially issued for three weeks, but Ms Bowden says First Minister Mark Drakeford said it could go on for longer.

Speaking at the first live televised press conference, Mark Drakeford also paid tribute to all health and social care workers.

He said the response from people wanting to volunteer had been "amazing".

Mr Drakeford said the decision not to give a geographic breakdown of coronavirus cases and deaths was to "protect the privacy" of people.

First Minister Mark Drakeford says the Welsh Government's £1.1bn "fighting fund" is designed to help viable businesses "weather the coronavirus storm".