Covid: Record daily cases reported on Christmas Eve in Wales

Social distancing is being reintroduced in shops and workplaces as Covid numbers rise

The number of new cases of coronavirus recorded in a single day has reached a new record on Christmas Eve.

Figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) on Friday showed another 6,755 cases - a jump of more than 2,000 in 48 hours - and 10 deaths.

This brings the total number of cases in Wales to 577,043, and the total number of deaths to 6,545.

The Covid rate in Wales now stands at one in 45, last week it was one in 55 people.

PHW reported 1,177 cases of Omicron up to Wednesday but Delta remains the dominant variant in Wales.

Omicron is thought to be the dominant variant in England and Scotland.

Of the new cases, 1,630 were recorded in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area, 1,130 in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and 952 in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.

Powys Teaching Health Board recorded the lowest new cases (179), followed by Swansea Bay University Health Board (641).

A spokesman from PHW said the Christmas Eve figure was the highest reported in a 24-hour period - but added because of the way the figures were collated, the data was provisional and did not necessarily reflect the number of new cases today.