‘WE ARE CLOSE TO THE TIPPING POINT’

FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has said Wales is close to a “tipping point” with coronavirus as cases continue to rise.

Latest figures released yesterday show there were 467 confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and two more deaths.

It follows the 627 new cases reported on Saturday, October 10, and 21 deaths.

The sudden increase in deaths was said to be down to a “delay in incorporating 17 deaths that occurred in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board between Saturday, October 3 and Wednesday, October 7”.

For the third day in a row the overall infection rate in Wales is above 100 cases per 100,000 population over a rolling seven-day period.

Some areas are far higher than that, with Merthyr Tydfil having 220.5 new cases per 100,000.

However, the rate of cases was down in 11 of the 22 local authorities in Wales yesterday.

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales’

Sunday Supplement, Mr Drakeford warned of significant strain on hospitals.

He said the number of patients with suspected or confirmed Covid in hospital had gone up “steadily over the last couple of weeks”.

“We’re heading back to the sorts of demands on the health service that we saw earlier in the year,” he said.

He added: “While I don’t think we are in the identical position as they face in England, I don’t think there’s a great deal of comfort to be drawn”.

Most of the increase in cases, he said, was not from people mixing in the hospitality sector, but in community settings.

“Unless we are able to turn back the tide of coronavirus in the community, we will see our health service come under very significant strain,” he said.

Around 2.3 million people are now in local lockdowns across

Cardiff, Swansea, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly borough, Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Newport, Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan, Torfaen, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy, Wrexham, and Bangor in Gwynedd.

Some lockdowns were extended last week, including Llanelli’s – one of only two town-specific restricted areas in Wales – and Caerphilly, where figures were said to have taken a turn in “the wrong direction”.

But there are concerns of “coronavirus fatigue” in Wales, with people facing another extended period of restrictions on their liberty.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to announce tougher restrictions for England today, with a three-tier local lockdown system introduced, depending on the severity of cases in a particular area.