NORTH Wales saw almost 60 new cases of coronavirus confirmed by health officials on Friday.

There have now been more than 34,360 lab-confirmed cases of the virus identified from the combined counties since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed by Public Health Wales (PHW) in the latest figures released on March 26.

PHW confirmed that 58 of the latest 190 Welsh cases came from the northern region.

The majority of which came from Anglesey where the county is dealing with a localised spike in cases around the Holyhead area.

They can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – 18 (25.7 per 100,000 population)

• Conwy – 8 (6.8 per 100,000 population)

• Denbighshire – 7 (7.3 per 100,000 population)

• Flintshire – 9 (5.8 per 100,000 population)

• Gwynedd – 11 (8.8 per 100,000 population)

• Wrexham – 5 (3.7 per 100,000 population)

BCUHB stats:

• Total confirmed COVID-19 cases from North Wales as of March 26 – 34,361

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported 928 people have sadly died since the start of the pandemic, according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 1,355 for the health board area.

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 190 COVID cases were confirmed in the latest figures, meaning that 208,694 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There were three newly reported deaths, meaning the number of people to have died with confirmed cases of coronavirus sadly remains at 5,498 in Wales.

Headline figures show that, across Wales, over over 1.3m people have had their first COVID-19 jab. Of that figure, a 389,663 have completed the two-dose treatment.

This is what Public Health Wales has to say:

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, spoke on the day Welsh Government announced more relaxations to the lockdown.

He said: “Welsh Government has announced the lifting of the ‘stay local’ requirement from tomorrow, Saturday 27 March, and that self-contained holiday accommodation can open for those who live in Wales.  People should stay within the borders of Wales unless for essential travel such as work or education.

“In addition, six people from two households are able to meet outdoors, organised outdoors activities for children under 18 can resume, and libraries can re-open.

“This slight easing of Covid lockdown rules is encouraging, however while the number of cases is declining overall, there are still several areas which have significantly higher rates.

“This is a stark reminder of the need for everyone to maintain constant vigilance, by practising hand hygiene, keeping 2m apart from people that you don’t live with, and wearing a mask in indoor environments.

“It is clear that Coronavirus has not gone away, and there are still a large number of people who have not been vaccinated.  In order to protect everyone, including the most vulnerable, we must all stick to the rules.”