THE state of the NHS in Wales has been described as "precarious", despite coronavirus case rates falling in many parts of the country.

Dr Andrew Goodall, chief executive of NHS Wales - speaking at the Welsh Government's coronavirus briefing today - said the falling numbers of cases and the drop in case rates in Wales has been "good to see".

This, he said, is especially promising in Gwent which had the highest case rates in Wales at one point late last year.

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The reduction in the case rates in Wales has begun to slow and, asked whether this is a cause for concern, Dr Goodall said: "As you see the numbers lowering, it will sometimes just slow because the numbers are getting much smaller.

"I would worry if we see too much stabilisation in that.

"The new variants do start to cause some problems for us. The Kent variant may be having an impact.

"But I am hopeful we will see further improvement."

He continued by saying that any easing of lockdown regulations is at this stage unlikely, given that case rates are still largely above where they were last summer.

"It is good to see rates going down. But running at 100 per 100,000 is much higher than we would have tolerated last summer," he said.

"My role and objective today has been to share the [details of] NHS pressure."

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital in Wales, as of yesterday was 2,158, the lowest daily average since before Christmas, with patient numbers going down in all areas in the last week.

A total of 84 people were being treated on invasive ventilated beds, including in critical care, for confirmed or suspected coronavirus, again having fallen back to mid-December numbers, and non-Covid patients in intensive care now outnumber those being treated for Covid.

Hospital admissions of confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases were at a weekly average of 85, again as of yesterday, the lowest since early December, with Gwent hospitals having the highest daily average number of admissions - 28 - in the last week.

Dr Goodall said hospitals "are still under considerable pressure and that would need to be a consideration [in thinking about easing lockdown]".

"The lower community levels are positive, but the NHS position is still precarious," he added.