Rise in coronavirus cases across North Wales ahead of local lockdown

There have now been 5,619 lab-confirmed cases of the virus from the combined counties that make up the North Wales region since the outbreak of the pandemic - after more incidents were confirmed in the latest figures released today.

Public Health Wales confirmed that today’s new cases can be broken down as such:

• Anglesey – one

• Conwy – 16

• Denbighshire – Seven

• Flintshire – 15

• Gwynedd – five

• Wrexham – 25

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board – the largest health board in Wales – has reported no new deaths to date according to PHW data.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which are considered a stronger indicator of the overall impact of the virus, and which are based on all deaths where COVID is mentioned on the death certificate, stand at 574 for the health board area.

BCUHB stats:

• Confirmed cases – 5,619

• New cases from September 30 – 69

• Rate of new cases per 100,000 from September 21 to 27 – Anglesey (10.0), Conwy (46.1), Denbighshire (37.6), Flintshire (53.8), Gwynedd (14.5), Wrexham (43.4)

The national picture:

Across Wales, another 398 COVID cases were confirmed in Wednesday’s figures, meaning that 24,383 people are now known to have contracted the coronavirus since the pandemic began.

There were six newly reported deaths bringing the total to 1,622.

Local lockdowns are currently in force for several areas of south Wales including Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen.

North Wales will soon enter local restriction across Wrexham, Flintshire, Conwy and Denbighshire. At present, Anglesey and Gwynedd are not being placed under the same rules.

Dr Robin Howe, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Public Health Wales supports the introduction of new coronavirus restrictions in four local authority areas in North Wales – Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy and Wrexham – following a rise in cases. The new measures will come into force at 6pm today, to protect people’s health and control the spread of the virus in the four areas.

“These arrangements are necessary in order to bring transmission of the virus under control in these areas. It is very important that we abide by the regulations in the areas in which we live and that we do not travel between local authority areas without a reasonable excuse.

“We thank the public in advance for sticking to these new restrictions, which are essential in reducing spread of the virus, protecting older and vulnerable people, and keeping Wales safe.

“Following the introduction of restrictions in the borough of Caerphilly, our data is beginning to show a downward trend, and although we cannot categorically say this trend is a result of lockdown, we are cautiously optimistic and we are looking at a number of alternative sources to validate these results.

“We remind people living in areas of Wales where there are currently no restrictions in place to remember, at all times, the importance of adhering to the regulations to prevent further local restrictions.

“The new restrictions mean that people living in the affected areas will not be allowed to enter or leave their local authority area without a reasonable excuse.

“They will not be able to meet indoors with anyone they do not live with for the time being – extended households (sometimes called a ‘bubble’) are suspended for the time being.

“Pubs, restaurants and other licensed premises must stop selling alcohol at 10pm, and offer table service only. Off licenses, including supermarkets and other retail outlets, must also stop selling alcohol at 10pm.

“People who can work from home must do so. Those who cannot reasonably work from home can continue to travel to a place of work, whether that is within our outside the areas affected by local restrictions.

“Details of these rules for each local authority area can be found on the Welsh Government website.

“We are also seeing an increase in the number of people who are seriously ill and have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19.

“We are concerned that much of the good work conducted over the past few months is at risk of going to waste. If the situation continues to worsen, we may find ourselves at the same levels of infection that we experienced earlier this year in March and April, and with that comes the potential for more extended restrictions to be imposed nationally.

“Approximately 2,000 test results (which will include both positive and negative results) from the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s Lighthouse labs have been delayed. This means that today’s test numbers will be an underestimate of the true picture of Coronavirus in Wales. This is beyond our control, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. The number of tests will in likelihood increase disproportionately over the coming days as the backlog of test results are incorporated into our reporting.”