Wales has recorded a significant rise in the number of people contracting Covid-19. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection survey, which is based on a random sample, has revealed that the estimated number of people testing positive for the virus for the week ending October 10 was 117,600 which equates to 3.87% of the population or around one in 25 people.
That's up on the previous week where 2.47%, or around one in 40 of Wales' population, was thought to have Covid. Across the UK total Covid-19 infections have climbed above two million for the first time since July, but levels are not rising in all parts of the country.
On Friday Public Health Wales warned that Wales is showing "early signs of a possible autumn wave" of Covid following a rise hospitalisations and deaths. The NHS trust is now urging people in eligible groups to take up the offer of a booster vaccine to help protect them from serious illness.
Read more: Wales warned to brace for 'one or more' waves of Covid this winter
Between October 1 and 18, Public Health Wales reported 55 deaths in people who tested positive for Covid, however this does not mean that the virus was necessarily the underlying cause. In total there have now been 7,935 Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began, with Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board recording by far the most of any health board with 2,148.
Worryingly, the number of people catching Covid in hospitals is also on the rise. The seven-day rolling count of hospital-acquired infection was 232 on October 16 - exactly a month earlier it was 64.
In the UK as a whole, just over 2.0 million people in private households are likely to have tested positive for coronavirus in the week to October 10, according to the ONS. That is up 15% from 1.7 million in the previous week and is the highest total since the week to July 26. However, the percentage jump is smaller than those seen in the past few weeks.
Sarah Crofts, ONS deputy director for the Covid-19 infection survey, said: "Infections have continued to increase across England and Wales, with uncertain trends in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Though infections have increased overall in England, it is a mixed picture across regions and age groups. It is too early to say from the data whether overall recent rises are starting to slow, but we will continue to monitor the data closely."
In England, the ONS said the estimated number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the latest week was 1,706,200, equating to 3.13% of the population or around one in 30 people. The previous week the figure stood at 1.5 million or one in 35 people.
The trend in Scotland was described as "uncertain", with 144,400 people likely to have Covid-19 in the latest survey, or around one in 35 people, compared with 109,700 in the previous week or one in 50. In Northern Ireland the latest estimate is 44,200 infections, or one in 40 people, compared with 45,100, which is also one in 40. Again the ONS said the trend was uncertain.
Meanwhile, according to Welsh Government statistics, on October 18 the number of Covid-positive patients in Welsh hospitals was 455, which has fallen from a high of 533 on October 13. Just 14 (3%) of people were being actively treated for the virus on October 18. And of the 12 Covid patients in intensive care beds, only six of them were being actively treated for the virus.
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