COUNTY’S COVID TESTS FOR ALL
MERTHYR TYDFIL TO BECOME FIRST PART OF WALES TO INTRODUCE MASS VIRUS TESTING
UK GOVERNMENT Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged people in Merthyr Tydfil to “play their part” in bringing coronavirus under control by taking part in Wales’ first mass test pilot.
Rapid Covid-19 tests will be offered to all residents and workers in the local authority area even if they do not have symptoms.
The borough – which includes Merthyr Tydfil town and outlying communities including Treharris, Bedlinog and Aberfan – last week had the highest rate of new cases in the UK.
Yesterday, Mr Hancock said the pilot, which follows one already in place in Liverpool, would provide “vital understanding” on how mass testing can be rolled out across the UK.
He said: “By testing more people, including those without symptoms, we are able to find more positive cases of the virus and break chains of transmission.
“Building on the learnings from the first whole city testing pilot in Liverpool and using the latest rapid tests, this pilot in Merthyr will provide vital understanding of how we can further roll out mass testing, as well as suppressing the virus and peace of mind for residents of Merthyr.
“I want to thank the Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council, Welsh Government and the armed forces for their work in making this pilot possible and bringing a test to everyone who needs one.
“I urge everyone in Merthyr to play their part in bringing this virus under control by getting a test, and by following restrictions in place.”
The testing programme will launch at Merthyr Tydfil’s Rhydycar leisure centre on Saturday with more sites due to open through Merthyr Tydfil County Borough throughout November. Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said the pilot would be supported by 165 military personnel.
The tests – known as “lateral flow tests” – will give results within 20 to 30 minutes, with people who test positive then given a traditional swab test and asked to return home so they can selfisolate immediately.
It is the first time the tests have been used at this scale in Wales. The nation’s
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Everyone living or working in Merthyr Tydfil will be offered Covid-19 testing.
“Our aims in delivering the area testing pilot are to: protect Merthyr and residents at highest risk; test the maximum number of inhabitants living in Merthyr Tydfil to identify the virus, wherever it is, and empower the local community to arrest and reduce the community spread in order to save lives and save livelihoods; and provide us with an even greater understanding of prevalence within the community and how many people are asymptomatic.
“To achieve these aims we are seeking to work with the communities and people living in Merthyr to embrace the testing being offered and help keep Merthyr safe.”
He added: “This is the first time we have rolled out mass testing of symptomatic and asymptomatic people in Wales. It will give us an even greater understanding of prevalence within the community and how many people have Covid.
“We have chosen Merthyr as it has a high prevalence and this mass testing will also help to slow down the spread of the virus in the area.
“The introduction of the rapid testing lateral flow devices is a boost to our test, trace, protect strategy and will speed up the process hugely. This is vital technol
ogy which I hope will play an important role in our fight against this deadly virus.”
The leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, Kevin O’Neill, said: “We’ve all been alarmed by the high number of cases in Merthyr Tydfil and action is needed to respond as a community to protect our residents.
“Testing is important even if you don’t have symptoms. We learned this week that in Liverpool, where a Covid-19 testing trial has been carried out, 700 people were found to have unknowingly had the virus – these were cases that would not have been detected otherwise.
“The council will be throwing its support behind this significant undertaking in the coming weeks and encouraging as many of our residents as possible to play their part in trying to bring this virus under some sort of control.”
Last week, Merthyr Tydfil briefly became the worst-hit area of the UK, with 741 cases per 100,000 people.
On Monday, the figure had dropped but the town still had the highest rate in Wales, with 205 new cases recorded in the seven days to November 12 – the equivalent of 339.8 cases per 100,000 people.