Over the last few days, Caerphilly Observer and other media have been reporting the headline figures from Public Health Wales.

For example, the headline figure released on Wednesday, September 9, saw 33 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 8 – 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 8.

The headline figure for Caerphilly County Borough for September 8 (which was published on September 9) is 33 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 8.

This is because the 33 cases were actually tested for a few days prior, but PHW only became aware of them on September 8. 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 6 saw 98 new cases of coronavirus. The week prior to that (August 24 to August 30) saw 46. The week before that (August 17 to August 23), there was just eight.