MEDICAL chiefs have shared statistics about the improving situation in Wales – but warned that we must not get complacent yet.

Taking to the podiums on Friday – Dr Andrew Goodall, chief executive of NHS Wales, and Dr Frank Atherton, chief medical officer for Wales, addressed the nation.

A key figure to take was the fact that more than one million vaccines are expected to have been administered in Wales by Saturday, the country’s chief medical officer has said.

Dr Atherton said more than 902,000 people had already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while more than 80,000 people have had their second dose – about 2.7 per cent of the adult population in Wales.

Speaking at the press conference in Cardiff, he said: “By tomorrow, we expect that our remarkable vaccination teams in all of our health boards and areas will have administered over one million vaccines, a really phenomenal performance and a key milestone.”

Dr Atherton said he supported the latest JCVI advice on vaccinations, which recommends an age-based approach to prioritisation.

“I want to stress that this is seen as the simplest, the quickest and the fairest approach,” Dr Atherton said.

“There’s been lots of calls from different groups and specific occupations to be prioritised.

“JCVI did look at that, it looked very carefully at that and it found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to support any specific occupational group.

“It also advised that adding complexity by going down an occupational route would slow down the pace of vaccination and it was very clear that we need to vaccinate as quickly as we can.”

In other good news, hospitalisation due to COVID-19 in Wales has fallen by almost half since the year began.

The NHS chef exec said that around 1,650 Covid-related patients are in Welsh hospitals, a drop of seven per cent compared to the same point last week and the lowest number since November 19.

However, this news came with a warning.

“I need to emphasise that our overall numbers in hospitals remain high,” Dr Goodall said.

“This is serious and affects the ability of the NHS to undertake other activities. It would not take much to see these numbers go up very quickly if the virus once again spreads through our communities.

“The NHS remains very concerned that the good progress we’re now seeing could be reversed if we do not retain the right balance between NHS pressures and the gradual release of restrictions.”