The number of people who have died after being diagnosed with coronavirus in Wales has increased by eight.

Public Health Wales (PHW) confirmed on Thursday that the total number of fatalities since the outbreak began in March has now reached 1,379.

In addition, the number of positive cases of Covid-19 in Wales has increased by 35 - the lowest figure for weeks - to bring the total to 14,238.

The local authority with the most reported new cases of the virus was Cardiff with 10, while a record 10 local authorities reported no new cases.

Despite testing capacity standing at around 9,000, PHW revealed that only 2,602 people were tested on Wednesday.

Where today's new cases were reported

The latest figures came following a press conference with Wales' chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton who gave an update on the situation here.

He started by reiterating that Wales was in "an improving situation", with fewer Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths being identified.

Dr Atherton said the NHS was coping well with demand and that lockdown restrictions had stopped hospitals from being "overburdened".

"The figures that we monitor are moving in the right direction," he said, adding that the R-number, the rate of infection, remains below one.

Dr Atherton said there were 1,030 people currently in hospital with coronavirus - 60% lower than the peak - and that 42 patients were in intensive care, way down on the 122 seen in the height of the outbreak in early April.

Dr Frank Atherton addressing the media at a press conference

Meanwhile, he said that people in Wales who have a health condition that makes them vulnerable to coronavirus are to be asked to continue shielding until August 16.

The 130,000 people who are shielding in Wales will receive a letter from Dr Atherton setting out the latest advice to protect them from coronavirus.

As well as detailing the new date, the letter will also describe how the medical advice has changed to enable them to go outdoors to meet other people for the first time since the start of the outbreak.

As a result of shielding them, the chief medical officer said there was evidence of reduced mortality rates in these groups.

Dr Atherton added: "Since the start of the pandemic, we have been focused on ensuring people who are at greatest risk are protected from coronavirus.

"The spread of coronavirus is being carefully monitored – if it gets lower, it is possible those within the shielded group will be able to do more. If it gets higher, we may advise those people to stop going outside and to stay at home again."

On June 29, schools will start reopening to pupils across Wales. However, Dr Atherton admitted that this was the "second best option".

"When I was discussing this with the education minister, my preferred option would have been to reopen the schools perhaps in August to give us a little bit more time - but I understand that was not attractive to the unions," he said.

"So we've got a second-best option which is we're going to reopen the schools towards the end of June for a short period of time with very different arrangements so that it can be done safely."

Children will go back to school in phases, with around one in three children at school at any one time to reduce the risk of infection.

Dr Atherton said he did not think that pupils or teachers would need to use personal protective equipment (PPE) when they reopen.

You can read more information about the reopening of schools in Wales here.

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart described north Wales an "uncomfortable outlier" in terms of the number of cases there compared to the rest of Wales and the UK.

Dr Atherton said this trend was largely down to the fact there was more testing going on in the north of the country, particularly in some of the care homes.

"When I look at the hospital admissions in north Wales and the deaths from coronavirus, I see the same picture as I see in other health boards which is one of declining incidents, so things are improving across Wales," he said.