A RECORD 14,000 people have tested positive for Covid in Wales in a single day, according to the latest official figures.

Public Health Wales said 14,036 people gave a positive coronavirus test in a 24-hour period to 9am on Friday, December 31 - the most recent data available.

These cases are out of more than 27,000 tests, meaning roughly half of the people who got tested on New Year's Eve had a positive result.

The record-high figure is provisional and may yet be amended, owing to some disruptions to the way Covid data is recorded and reported over the Christmas and New Year period. Public Health Wales did report 21,000 cases in a single update last week, but that was for a 48-hour period.

Some 2,526 of the cases reported today were found in Gwent's Aneurin Bevan University Health Board region - the highest of any health board area in Wales. 

The figures come as first minister Mark Drakeford warns of a "difficult" January, driven by the Omicron variant, that research suggests spreads more quickly but is less likely to lead to severe illness than the Delta strain.

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Cases of Covid generally have rocketed since mid-December and dwarf the highs of last winter's peak, when daily cases topped 3,500. The big difference between now and then, of course, is that 12 months ago the vaccine programme had barely taken off, and now millions of us have been immunised against the worst effects of the virus.

There are currently 636 people in Welsh hospitals who are deemed Covid patients, either because they have confirmed or suspected infection, or because they are recovering from the virus. That's a far cry from 12 months ago, when around 2,800 people were in Welsh hospitals with coronavirus.

Today's statistical update also shows that another 14 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Wales, bringing the national death toll during the pandemic to 6,581 people, according to the Public Health Wales definition.

Meanwhile, 1.6 million people in Wales have now received their Covid booster jab.

Here are the latest figures by council area in Wales, for the 24-hour period to 9am on New Year's Eve:

Anglesey - 238

Blaenau Gwent - 400

Bridgend - 700

Caerphilly - 749

Cardiff - 1,461

Carmarthenshire - 569

Ceredigion - 179

Conwy - 568

Denbighshire - 385

Flintshire - 585

Gwynedd - 311

Merthyr Tydfil - 213

Monmouthshire - 234

Neath Port Talbot - 683

Newport - 674

Pembrokeshire - 299

Powys - 387

Rhondda Cynon Taf - 1,115

Swansea - 1,030

Torfaen - 469

Vale of Glamorgan - 521

Wrexham - 354

Unknown location - 51

Resident outside Wales – 1,861