‘I don’t want to make promises’ – Morgan
THE Health Minister has refused to rule out bringing back restrictions as cases in Wales continue to soar.
The infection rate in Wales has risen to the highest in the UK, and Eluned Morgan said she didn’t want to make any promises because the number of cases was “extremely high”.
The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales based on the cases for every 100,000 people now stands at 651.9 – a sharp rise from the 617 reported the day before.
In comparison, Scotland’s sevenday infection rate is 316.5, England’s 447.9 and Northern Ireland’s is 473.3.
The rate of people being taken into hospital with Covid also appears to be starting to rise.
As reported in yesterday’s edition, First Minister Mark Drakeford said on Wednesday that the Welsh Government is not yet looking at reintroducing Covid restrictions despite rising numbers of cases.
But while he acknowledged the “worrying” numbers, the Welsh Labour leader said it was not yet time to return to more restrictions to clamp down on the spread of the virus.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales yesterday, Ms Morgan admitted it was going to be the toughest winter in the history of the NHS in Wales.
When asked about whether restrictions would need to be brought in, she said: “I don’t want to make any promises because rates are extremely high at the moment.
“We are not seeing the kind of reduction that we were hoping to see, like they have seen in Scotland.
“We will keep an eye on the situation. We hope that we will be able to not have the restrictions that we have seen before, but it is up to the Welsh public play their part as well and try and mix outdoors as much as possible, make sure there is ventilation, wash their hands.
“This virus has not gone away. There is a scenario in our Coronavirus Plan where we start to go back up the levels of restrictions.
“That is something we are keeping an eye on, but at the moment it is unlikely we are going down that path.
“At the moment, but who knows what the winter will bring.
“We still have to keep an eye on the situation, it is still something we are living and learning about as we go along.” You can see the plan here.
The next three-week review in Wales will be held next week, with any changes due to be made public next Friday.
On September 10, modelling from Swansea University modelling suggested that Wales would reach the peak of the current wave of coronavirus “very soon”.
At the time the infection rate was above 500, and the modelling from Swansea University Medical School and the team at Super Computing Wales suggested that the peak in Wales would be by the end of September.
But cases and infection rates in Wales are continuing to rise.
The Public Health Wales data published yesterday revealed there were 4,240 new positive cases, bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 412,534.
And thirteen more people have died with coronavirus in Wales, bringing the overall toll within 28 days of a positive Covid test to 6,063 in Wales.
The local authority with the highest infection rate in Wales is now Blaenau Gwent with 1,046 cases per 100,000 population over seven days, followed by Torfaen with 940.8 and Caerphilly with 874.2.
Blaenau Gwent is now the local authority with the highest infection rate in the UK. The highest in England is Bath and North East Somerset with 877.
The test positivity rate across Wales has risen to 22.1%, meaning more than a fifth of all those getting tests are coming back positive. Nearly a third of people in Blaenau Gwent are having their test come back positive (29.2%) – the highest of any local authority – with Caerphilly and Neath Port Talbot not far behind at 27.1%.
The areas of the country recording the highest numbers of Covid cases in the latest 24-hour period were Cardiff with 596, Caerphilly with 381, RCT with 352, Newport with 247, Vale of Glamorgan with 244, Neath Port Talbot with 225, Swansea with 199 and Pembrokeshire with 193.
Meanwhile Powys and Bridgend both had 173 new cases, Carmarthenshire had 163, Monmouthshire had 144, Blaenau Gwent had 140, Gwynedd had 134, Denbighshire and Flintshire had 126 and Torfaen had 115.
The local authorities with the lowest numbers of cases included Ceredigion with 106, Conwy with 92, Wrexham with 87, Merthyr Tydfil with 79 and Anglesey with 45.
As of October 20 there were 673 people in general and acute hospital beds with coronavirus (confirmed, suspected, and recovering), a rise on the 656 reported the day before.
Aneurin Bevan UHB had the most Covid patients in general and acute hospital beds on October 20 with 168 followed by Cardiff and Vale UHB with 120, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB with 110, Betsi Cadwaladr UHB with 103, Swansea Bay UHB with 91 and Hywel Dda UHB with 81.
As of October 20 there were 53 people in invasive ventilated beds in Wales with coronavirus. Swansea Bay UHB had 13, Betsi Cadwaladr UHB had 12, Aneurin Bevan UHB and Hywel Dda UHB had eight, Cwm Taf Morgannwgh UHB had seven, and Cardiff and Vale UHB had five.
Yesterday Public Health Wales figures showed that 2,420,558 people have had one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,238,258 have had both doses.