‘It was inevitable... people aren’t paying attention’
TONIGHT’S lockdown in Newport is linked to a house party at the end of last month which has led to a sharp rise in cases of Covid-19, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said yesterday.
Mr Gething said: “In Newport, the rise in cases appeared to start with a house party at the end of August and was subsequently linked to a number of pubs.
“But we are now seeing a wide spread of cases across the city, which are not linked to a particular cluster or showing links with existing cases.”
Kevin Kelly is a 26-year-old bricklayer from Newport.
“I’m not shocked,” he said. “But people aren’t going to pay attention. They didn’t last time and I don’t think they will this time. We need everybody to take notice, that’s the only way at things will change.”
Kevin added: “I haven’t seen my mum in about six months. Things have been hard for everyone but we have all got to stick together, especially with Christmas around the corner. Two weeks at home is a lot but it can save lives.”
Sheila Yoxall, 84, lives in the Lliswerry area of Newport.
“If it helps, fair enough, but there’s so many people walking without masks,” she said. “The people are not taking enough notice of what’s going on. They are ignoring it.”
She added: “I have only got my son. He lives up in Bargoed. He can’t come down and he couldn’t come down before.
“My brother came back from France and had to go into lockdown.
“That’s all I have got. I haven’t seen relatives that much.
“We have got to do it. It’s come back a second time, it could come a third if we don’t take precautions.”
David Pope, 65, from Newport, said he’s had a holiday cancelled as a result of the news. He said: “We are supposed to be flying to Greece from Birmingham. I have just been told Jet2 is not refunding any money.
“It was £700 I’ve lost. Just for me and my friend. There’s not a lot you can do. My sister’s birthday party is in Cwmbran Thursday but I can’t even go to that. Better safe than sorry in this day and age.”
Jeremy Gibson, 75, from Newport, said: “It was inevitable. Everybody has been telling us for about a week now that it’s bound to happen.
“I think the vast majority of people are being sensible. It’s a very small minority who think they can flout all the rules and nothing will happen.”
SOME parts of Wales have seen a significant rise in the number of people contracting coronavirus inside hospitals.
At the beginning of the crisis, Welsh hospitals were a hotbed of coronavirus transmission, with 10% of all cases originating within them.
Many of the issues stemmed from a combination of high patient numbers and chronic PPE shortages.
The health board with the highest incidence of Covid contracted within hospitals is Betsi Cadwaladr, which has seen more than half of cases in Wales since March.
Dr Kate Clark, secondary care medical director of Betsi Cadwaladr UHB, said yesterday: “Since August 31, we have identified 23 patients with confirmed Covid-19 infection associated with an outbreak across hospitals in the Central region. This includes Glan Clwyd Hospital, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Hospitals. As of this morning, 18 of those patients with Covid-19 related to this outbreak remain in our hospitals.
“Cases at Ysbyty Gwynedd and Wrexham Maelor Hospital, and our community hospitals in the East and West area remain low at present.
Responding to the increase in people catching Covid-19 in Welsh hospitals, Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru’s North Wales MS, said: “An increase in patients catching coronavirus in hospitals points to an urgent need to review infection-control measures.
“The public needs reassurance that any outbreaks in Welsh hospitals are under control. We must not be in a situation when patients are scared to visit hospitals for routine appointments, for fear of catching coronavirus.
“This is too serious to ignore.” Cwm Taf Health Board has also seen a spike in hospitals transmission, with four people catching the virus in hospital the two weeks ago.
A spokeswoman for the board said: “We recognised the risk to healthcare environments of the rise in numbers of Covid-19 cases in the community across CTM.
“Whilst initial cases in the community were predominantly in young persons who were generally fit and not needing hospital care, we knew that we needed to be very attentive to these community transmissions because evidence from elsewhere suggested that it would only be a matter of time before older populations were affected and hospital admissions for Covid would start to grow.”