Three more to outbreak Deaths tied at hospital
THREE more people have died following a coronavirus outbreak at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board confirmed this takes the total number of deaths linked to the outbreak to 24.
The health board also said the number of cases at the Llantrisantbased hospital has now reached 129 – an increase of two on the previous day’s figure.
All non-urgent elective surgery at the site has been temporarily suspended with the exception of a “very small number” of urgent cancer cases.
Emergency admissions, with the exception of children, are being diverted to other hospitals while emergency ambulance calls are also being told to travel to other sites.
There is no change to the selfcontained paediatric wards at the Royal Glamorgan which remain open.
There have also been separate incidents of coroanvirus transmission at both Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil and the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
To date the health board said there have been 17 cases linked to the outbreak at Prince Charles and one death while there were 15 cases liked to the Princess of Wales outbreak and one death.
These figures are both unchanged from the announcement on Wednesday.
Medical director for the health board Dr Nick Lyons said: “In conjunction with Public Health Wales we continue to closely monitor cases at Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Prince Charles Hospital and Princess of Wales Hospital sites.
“The safety of our patients and staff remains our first priority and immediate measures to contain the spread of the virus have been put in place.
“We are taking the outbreaks extremely seriously and the stringent and robust mitigating actions which have been taken across our sites are being closely observed. However, given the nature of coronavirus, there is an inevitable time delay in when we will see the positive impact of these measures.”
He added: “We apologise for the concern that this will cause to families and our communities.
“Infection rates also continue to rise in our communities and we are appealing to all members of the public to take seriously their responsibilities by ensuring their behaviour does not contribute to the further spread of Covid-19.
“We remain grateful to all members of our community who are continuing to adhere to the guidance in order to help control this virus.”
A helpline has been set up for anyone who has concerns relating to the Covid-19 outbreak at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.
Members of the public can call 01685 726464 between 9am and 4.30pm (Monday to Friday) where a team will be ready to help.
Meanwhile, across Wales one more person has died with coronavirus and more than 630 new positive cases have been identified, according to figures from Public Health Wales (PHW).
The NHS body yesterday said 638 new positive cases have been diagnosed following a lab test, a drop on 752 on Wednesday.
It also said that one new death among people who had tested positive had been reported to them, bringing the total to 1,644.
It means the nation’s infection rate is continuing to rise and is rapidly approaching 100 cases for every 100,000 people in the past seven days.
Merthyr Tydfil currently has the highest rate of infections in Wales with 223.8 cases per 100,000 people based on a rolling seven-day average, up from 200.6 on Wednesday.
Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) follows at 176.6 per 100,000 of population, down from 178.2 the day before.
The other local authority areas recording more than 100 cases per 100,000 included Flintshire with 144.1, Swansea with 133.6, Wrexham with 132.4, Bridgend with 131.2, Cardiff with 120.7 and Denbighshire with 101.4.
The Wales overall infection rate is 95.1 per 100,000, which is up on 92.6 recorded the day before.
Cardiff reported the highest number of new cases yesterday with 88, followed by RCT with 62, Swansea with 48, Caerphilly with 39, Bridgend with 38, Wrexham and Merthyr Tydfil with 37, Flintshire with 36, and Neath Port Talbot with 24.
Other local authorities in double figures included Carmarthenshire with 19, Denbighshire with 17, Conwy with 15, Powys with 12 and Torfaen with 10. Meanwhile, Newport, Gwynedd, Vale of Glamorgan and Blaenau Gwent had nine, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire had five, Pembrokeshire had four and Anglesey had three.
There were 94 cases from people outside of Wales included in the figures, which Public Health Wales said referred to mainly young people with Welsh home addresses but who were currently living outside Wales.
Giri Shankar, PHW’s incident director for the Covid-19 outbreak, said there was a “continuing concern” about the transmission of coronavirus virus in pubs and restaurants in Wales.
He was speaking after new rules for the hospitality trade were being tightened in Scotland – with indoor venues only allowed to operate from 6am to 6pm, selling food and non-alcoholic drinks only. In the five regions with the highest number of cases – including Glasgow and Edinburgh – licensed premises will have to shut for a 16-day period, although they can offer takeaway services.
It is also being reported that large parts of of northern England are facing the prospect of tough new coronavirus restrictions – including the possible closure of pubs and restaurants.
Dr Shankar told BBC Radio Wales: “At the moment there still is a concern about ongoing community transmission and not just pubs but all of the hospitality premises are high risk – where such interactions happen are a continuing concern.”
He added: “It’s a matter of risk assessment – we continue to introduce restrictions on the basis that they will themselves be making enough impact to get the cases down.
“As we monitor the progress, if there is evidence of insufficient progress and if there is evidence of additional cases coming from other locations then more needs to be done.”