Covid: Omicron cases in Wales rise by 163 to 435

Another 163 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been recorded in Wales, taking the total to 435.

Ministers are meeting to discuss more Covid restrictions, and Public Health Wales (PHW) has been warning of a "rapid increase" in Omicron cases.

Nightclubs will close from 27 December, with social distancing measures imposed in other businesses.

Non-urgent surgery is being postponed in north wales to focus on jabs with a "bleak picture" painted in the south.

Two football fixtures involving Cardiff City and Newport County on 26 December have also been postponed due to Covid.

Ministers have yet to decide whether to introduce restrictions for other sporting events scheduled to take place during the festive period.

According to Public Health Wales figures, Wales has had its best day yet for vaccinations.

A total of 47,800 doses were given on Sunday, 45,066 of these boosters. This beats the previous best of 40,211 on 12 March.

Daily boosters broke records three days in a row from Friday to Sunday, taking last week's average to 34,226 doses a day.

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That means 61% of those people eligible for a vaccine have now been reached in Wales.

That figure is 67% in Scotland, 65% in England and 57% of those eligible - three months after receiving a second dose - in Northern Ireland.

As of 19 December, 1,358,807 boosters had been given out.

PHW has also reported eight further deaths with coronavirus and 6,796 new cases over the past 48 hours.

It takes the cumulative total number of deaths to 6,516 and the total number of cases to 559,959.

The seven day rolling case rate per 100,000 population for the whole of Wales has risen to 548.4, compared to 503.4 reported on Sunday.

The testing positivity rate is also up to 18.1%.

About 18% of vaccination appointments across Wales were not kept over the weekend, according to the Welsh government.

It wants people to have received an appointment for a jab by the end of the year.

"In order to deliver the booster programme as quickly as possible we would urge everyone to make getting the booster their number one priority," it said.

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said: "No one wants the situation to escalate to a point where the NHS becomes overwhelmed this winter, meaning another lockdown is unavoidable.

"That's why we must all take action to protect ourselves and those around us."

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