Health officials ‘working hard’ to address coronavirus spread in North Wales as Delta variant drives increase in cases

Health officials are “working hard” to address the spread of the coronavirus in North Wales as cases continue to rise.

Around a third (163) out of the 484 new cases reported in Wales today were in the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area.

A total of 70 of those cases were in Flintshire, with 27 in Conwy, 24 in Denbighshire, 20 each in Wrexham and Gwynedd and just two on Anglesey.

The main cause of the rise is said to be the Delta variant, with travel from abroad and areas of north west England with high case rates adding to infection rates locally.

At today’s Welsh Government press conference, North.Wales asked Health Minister Eluned Morgan and Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Chris Jones to provide an update on the situation in the region.

Dr Jones said: “There’s considerable intelligence out there about whether cases are linked or whether they are new cases on their own and where they may have come from.

“We know there have been some cases around people who’ve travelled from abroad.

“We know there have been some cases from that have been around people who’ve travelled from outside Wales in England – clearly the north-west of England is an area where there are very high rates at present.

“There were a number of clusters and now there is community transmission, it is not so easy to separate them out.

“But I know that the incident management teams in North Wales are working really hard to contain and control this. It really is a very pressing challenge for everyone.”

The Health Minister said: “I was very fortunate to be able to visit parts of North Wales last weekend.

“We’re aware that there are clusters in the Conwy area but there has been a really quick response from the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board.

“We have seen a surge vaccination centres being set up and I was fortunate enough to have been able to visit one of those based in Wrexham.

“I know they are organising pop up vaccination centres in town centres and city centres.

“Rather than waiting for people to come to centres, we are now making sure we go into where people are, and we do hope that people will take up those opportunities.”