THERE has been a general fall in new coronavirus cases in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, and Newport since local lockdown measures were introduced there, Welsh Government figures show.

Wales' chief medical officer, Dr Frank Atherton, said there is "some evidence [restrictions] are working", resulting in lower numbers of new Covid-19 cases.

The improving picture means the authorities can now look at ways of relaxing the measures, though Dr Atherton said he wanted to avoid lifting lockdowns only to reimpose them a few weeks later.

At today's Welsh Government press conference, Dr Atherton presented a chart showing new case numbers in some of the first council areas in Wales to go into local lockdown.

He said Blaenau Gwent showed "the steepest and highest rise in cases" before lockdown measures were introduced on September 22.

Cases there continued to rise for several more days but have been in decline since around September 26, the data showed.

"We're starting to see some improvements – there are still high rates of viral transmission and high rates of new cases, but some improvement, which is a good thing," Dr Atherton said.

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The chief medical officer also commented on the situation in Newport.

"We have seen a decline – but that's been slowed, because we know there has been an increase in cases in Newport related to house parties – those are the sorts of things that can delay the improvement," he said.

Dr Atherton said Caerphilly had also shown some improvement, but he did not present any data on Torfaen, which has been in lockdown for little more than a week.

"The good news is that we do have some evidence the local restrictions are having some benefit and they're starting to improve the picture," he added. "As the first minister said last Friday, we're working on how we can now remove the restrictions in those areas so that people can pick up their lives as usual."

He added: "What we don't want to do is to simply relax the measures in an area, and then a week or two afterwards to put those back.

"It may be that we see a rolling programme of restrictions in place – we don't want to do that but it may be something that we have to think about as we go through the autumn and the winter."