A year ago we were in a total lockdown in Wales – all non-essential retail was closed and there were limits on who you could see.
The Christmas Day people had hoped for, with the chance to see their families for a few much-longed-for days, had been effectively cancelled.
At that point the Covid figures for Wales, covering December 21 to December 27, 2020, show that the cases per 100,000 of the population were 437.2.
The figures for the equivalent Christmas period this year, covering December 20 to December 26, show a national total of 1,052.8 cases per 100,000 – more than double the number there were a year ago.
Restrictions now are also different. From December 4, 2020, all cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants were told they would have to close their doors at 6pm and said cinemas, bowling alleys, and other indoor entertainment venues were ordered to close completely.
On December 19, 2020, Mark Drakeford announced that non-essential retail, close contact services, gyms, and leisure centres and hospitality venues would close at the end of trading that day and stay-at-home restrictions would be in place from midnight. He also announced that a planned two-household bubble only applied on Christmas Day rather than a five-day period between December 23 and 27.
Announcing the strict Christmas rules Mr Drakeford told the people of Wales: "We know that 2021 will be a different and a better year. Our economy will recover. Christmas will come again."
This year people were allowed to see their families and retail and hospitality remains open however Wales has been moved into alert level two level restrictions.
What has happened since Omicron was detected in Wales?
The first Omicron case in Wales was confirmed by the Welsh Government on December 3 and we know it has made a massive difference to case numbers all across Wales as it has now overtaken the Delta variant as the dominant Covid strain. Looking at the figures per council area in Wales we can now see that in the Christmas period of December 20 to 26, 2021, a total of 12 council areas had case rates in excess of 1,000 per 100,000 people. By Christmas week this year the area with the highest number of cases per 100,000 was Cardiff with a figure of 1,339. A year ago, by comparison, not one council area had an infection rate of more than 1,000. In the week of December 21 to 27, 2020, the highest infection rate was in Bridgend, which had 860.3 cases per 100,000.
Looking on a council level Ceredigion has seen the highest increase per 100,000 since the first Omicron case was detected in Wales, with rates per 100,000 now 3.6 times higher than they were.
The lowest rise when looking at cases per 100,000 in the period since Omicron was first detected is Anglesey where cases per 100,000 have gone up just short of 17%.
You can see the difference in each of Wales' council areas a year apart and since Omicron arrived here:
The blue line is the data from Public Health Wales from November 29 to December 5. The first Omicron case was announced in Wales within that period, on December 3.
The green line shows the number of cases per 100,000 for the Christmas period in 2020 (data from December 21 to 27) and the yellow line the equivalent data for Christmas week, but covering December 20 to 26, 2021.
This map shows the rates in each council area of Wales over the Christmas period in 2020:
At this point the highest rate per 100,000 was in Bridgend where there were 860.3 cases per 100,000. The county also had 1,265 cases confirmed in that period. That however wasn't the highest number of cases recorded in one area – that was Cardiff which had 1,693 infections and a case rate of 461.4 per 100,000.
Then this is the equivalent map for the same period a year later:
Fast forward a year and cases are considerably higher across all parts of Wales. In the week covering Christmas Day for 2021 the highest rate was Cardiff which had 1,339 cases per 100,000. Bridgend, the highest a year ago, had 1,131.6 per 100.000.
The area which has had the biggest year-on-year jump is Gwynedd. In 2020 its rate per 100,000 was 85.9. This year it was 1,090.2 per 100,000 – a 12-fold increase.
Here is how the infection rates have jumped between the two Christmas periods:
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