Three more people die with virus in Wales

THE number of people who have died after contracting coronavirus in Wales has increased by three, it has been announced.

Public Health Wales confirmed yesterday that the total number of deaths since the outbreak began has now reached 1,510.

But as it can take two or three days for reports of deaths to reach the NHS trust, not all newly-reported deaths have occurred in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the number of lab-confirmed positive cases of coronavirus in Wales has risen by 26 to bring the total to 15,743.

Merthyr Tydfil recorded nine of these new positive cases, the most of any local authority, followed by Wrexham with five and Cardiff and Conwy with three.

A total of 12 local authorities reported no new Covid-19 cases yesterday: Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Torfaen, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend, RCT, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea.

And even though testing capacity stands at 12,300 each day in Wales, just 3,339 were carried out on Monday.

The latest figures were announced following a press conference with Health Minister Vaughan Gething who gave an update on the situation in Wales.

He started by announcing that a Covid-19 patient based at University Hospital Llandough has become the first in Wales to be given “antibody transfusion” treatment.

The treatment uses the blood plasma taken from people who have already recovered from Covid-19. Their plasma is then transfused into other patients with the coronavirus to help them fight the infection more quickly.

“It has great potential to help severely ill people recover,” said Mr Gething.

The minister also provided an update on the two coronavirus outbreaks at meat processing plants in north Wales and the ongoing incident in South Wales.

He said 216 people have tested positive in at the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni, Anglesey, which remains closed.

In addition, 237 people have the virus at Rowan Foods in Wrexham where more than 1,100 people have been tested.

And at Kepak in Merthyr Tydfil 130 positive tests have been confirmed since April, with 101 of those coming from the 810 people tested last Saturday.

“We are closely monitoring for any signs of wider spread into the community,” he said.

“The increase in numbers is not an indication there is transmission beyond the people employed in these plants.”