Another 34 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Caerphilly County Borough, according to the latest headline figure released by Public Health Wales (PHW).
The figure, which was released on Thursday (September 17), shows how many new coronavirus cases PHW was made aware of on Wednesday (September 16).
The latest headline figure shows 167 new cases reported across Wales, including Caerphilly’s figures, with three deaths recorded.
Of these 167 cases, 32 were reported in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which is set to become the second local authority area in Wales, after Caerphilly, to be placed under a local lockdown.
Meanwhile, 18 new cases have been reported in Cardiff and 11 in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough.
Eleven new cases have also been reported in Blaenau Gwent, with nine new cases in Newport, three in Torfaen and one in Monmouthshire.
In the last seven days, PHW has been made aware of 152 new cases in Caerphilly County Borough – with only Rhondda Cynon Taf recording more cases (202) in the same period.
Caerphilly was placed under a local lockdown by Welsh Government on September 8.
Welsh Government has said it will take several weeks for the effects of the local lockdown to be felt.
What does ‘headline figure’ mean?
In recent weeks, Caerphilly Observer and other media have been reporting the headline figures from Public Health Wales.
For example, the headline figure released on Thursday, September 17, saw 34 new positive tests reported.
This figure however is not entirely as it seems at first glance. It is the number of new cases PHW were aware of as of September 16 – the day before.
Even then, this figure is still not what you think it ought to be as it includes positive tests that may have occurred a few days prior, but that PHW were only made aware of on September 16.
The headline figure for Caerphilly County Borough for September 16 (which was published on September 17) is 34 new cases.
The latest spreadsheet containing the detailed data, which can be downloaded from the PHW stats website, actually shows no new cases for September 16.
This is because the 34 cases were actually tested for a few days prior, but PHW only became aware of them on September 16. We will have a far more accurate reflection of what has been going on in the last few days over the course of the next week.
However, the figures do show the week up to September 13 saw 216 new cases of coronavirus recorded in Caerphilly County Borough. The week prior to that (August 31 to September 6) saw 171. The week before that (August 24 to August 30) saw 47. There were just eight cases recorded between August 17 and August 23.
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