Covid infections in Wales rise for second week running
- Published
One in 50 people is estimated to have had Covid in the latest week
Covid infections in Wales have risen for the second week running, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
About 62,900 people had Covid in the week ending 20 September, which equates to 2.07% of the population or about one in 50 people in Wales, estimates said.
The consecutive rises in infections come after more than two months of falls in infection rates.
In the week ending 13 September, 39,700 people were estimated to have had Covid, the highest since mid-August.
Since summer 2020, the ONS has organised a weekly swab survey involving thousands of households across Wales, which now involves people being sent test kits by post.
It has become the most important tool to measure the level of infections, with the end of mass testing at the end of March.
Infections are estimated to be lower in Wales than in Scotland, where the trend is uncertain, but higher than in England and Northern Ireland.
The ONS estimated infections to involve one in 65 people in England, one in 45 in Scotland and one in 58 in Northern Ireland.
Broken down, daily estimates of infection were highest in people in their 80s.
Meanwhile, the so-called R-number - the reproduction number - has risen for the first time in more than a month.
If the R number, which is expressed within a range, is above one, it means infections are growing.
The range remained between 0.7 to 1.1 throughout August and most of September but has now risen slightly to between 0.8 and 1.2, suggesting for every 10 people with Covid in Wales, between another eight and 12 people would be infected.
Numbers of Covid-positive patients in hospital in Wales are also rising, but 96% have been patients being treated for other conditions.
Only an average of 11 patients across Welsh acute hospitals have been primarily treated for Covid in the past week.
The number of hospital patients testing positive for Covid at the end of September has risen 28% in a month, but still very few are being "actively" treated for Covid.
The number of patients testing positive for Covid in hospital beds in Wales averaged 305 a day in the last week of September - up 40% on the previous week, according to the Digital Health and Care Wales figures.
Numbers in critical care with Covid averaged seven a day, the same as a week ago and well within the range seen over the past month.
There were nearly 30 times more non-Covid patients in critical care than patients with the virus.
In the second wave of the pandemic, the number of those in critical care with Covid in Wales peaked at 150.
There were 265 positive tests for Covid in hospitals in the week ending 25 September - and nearly two thirds were "probably" or "definitely" hospital-acquired, according to separate figures from Public Health Wales (PHW).
Hospital-acquired infections stood at 162, nearly all in elderly patients, with 42 in the Cardiff and Vale health board.
More than 65,000 Covid vaccines were administered in Wales in the past week.
The vast majority were autumn boosters, with the programme running at more than 9,200 a day.
So far, 183,826 autumn boosters have been given out, reaching well over half of care home residents.
The previous booster campaign saw 85% of those eligible being given a dose.
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