Fifteen new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Caerphilly County Borough, the latest figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) show.
The latest headline figure, which was released on Monday (September 21), shows the number of new cases PHW was made aware of on Sunday (September 20).
However, PHW has said there’s been a “lag in receiving data”, and has warned that the figures may be an “underestimate”.
Across Wales, the headline figure shows 229 new coronavirus cases, with no deaths.
Of these 229 new cases, 40 were recorded in Rhondda Cynon Taf – which became the second council area, after Caerphilly, to be placed under a local lockdown last week.
The latest figures also show 20 new cases in Blaenau Gwent, 14 in Bridgend, 12 in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough and 11 in Newport. It has been announced that all four areas will also be placed under a local lockdown from Tuesday, September 22.
Meanwhile, 31 new cases have been confirmed in Cardiff, five in Torfaen and four in Monmouthshire.
In the last seven days, PHW has been made aware of 96 new cases in Caerphilly County Borough. In that same time period, only Rhondda Cynon Taf (201) has recorded more new cases.
The number of cases in Caerphilly in the last seven days averages 53 cases per 100,000 people.
In comparison, there have been 102.8 cases per 100,000 people in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, 83.3 in Rhondda Cynon Taf, 60.1 in Blaenau Gwent, 53 in Bridgend and 45.3 in Newport.
Caerphilly County Borough has a population of around 180,000 – making it the fifth largest local authority area in Wales, behind Cardiff, Swansea, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Carmarthenshire.
Welsh Government has said it will take several weeks for the effects of the local lockdown to be felt.
A temporary coronavirus testing centre has been set up in the car park at New Tredegar Business Park, with the temporary testing centres at the council offices in Tredomen and Caerphilly Leisure Centre now closed.
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 Monday September 21, saw 15 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 20 – 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 20.
The headline figure for Caerphilly County Borough for September 20 (which was published on September 21) is 15 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 20.
This is because the 15 cases were actually tested for a few days prior, but PHW only became aware of them on September 20. 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 20 saw 96 new cases of coronavirus recorded in Caerphilly County Borough. The week prior to that (September 7 to 13) saw 216.
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