The evidence first minister says shows wales could be past peak

MARK Drakeford, pictured, said encouraging new NHS data had shown that the threeweek lockdown appeared to have reduced the number of

Covid-19 related admissions to hospitals.

He also added that the number of patients needing critical care had also dropped following a spike at the end of March and early April.

Mr Drakeford yesterday said: “Those three weeks [of restrictions] have been well-used.

“On April 7 we saw the highest number of new admissions for coronavirus in the outbreak so far to Welsh hospitals. On that day, that figure was 196. It has been below that number every day since.

“And while figures go up and down, yesterday (Thursday) that figure was as low as 105.

“While the number of people needing critical care for coronavirus in Wales rose rapidly at the end of March and into April, that figure was also the highest so far on April 9 at 161. But it has stabilised and been below that figure every day since.

Mr Drakeford acknowledged that the first three weeks of the lockdown were extremely difficult for many people.

But he stressed that “all that effort” made by the public, as well as staff in the NHS and social care, had made a real difference.

Over the course of the first three weeks, he said critical care bed capacity had doubled and there were 7,000 more beds available to the Welsh NHS.

His comments come 24 hours after the chief executive of NHS Wales gave an update on the state of critical care units across the country.

Dr Andrew Goodall said all health boards were reporting a “green” or level one status, which meant they were able to manage demand

There were 940 people with confirmed coronavirus in hospital as of Thursday, and a further 395 suspected cases.

Around 46% of acute hospital beds (around 3,135) are currently empty.

Meanwhile, one in three critical care beds are occupied by people with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, although 49% of critical care beds are available.

The greatest pressure on critical care beds remains in south-east Wales.