Household mixing, new strain and border issues behind North Wales Covid spike, says Chief Medical Officer

Household mixing, a new virus strain and border issues are behind a spike in Covid-19 cases in North Wales, the country’s Chief Medical Officer has said.

The sharp rise in new cases in the region has seen the number of people being treated in critical care with the virus jump from six to 20 in recent weeks.

Yesterday’s StatsWales figures show there were just five vacant invasive ventilated beds, which include both those in and outside a critical care setting, available for the whole area, which has slightly increased to nine today.

The number of coronavirus related patients being treated in hospitals across North Wales is also up to 258, according to a senior health official.

While parts of Wales have seen a flattening or a decrease in new cases since the introduction of the lockdown, one in four test results are currently coming back positive.

Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire are continuing to see a daily increase in cases.

Wales’ Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton said the new variant could be behind the recent increase in the region’s cases, with “70 per cent of the cases proving positive, probably related to the new variant”.

However, although the new variant said to be more infections, Dr Atherton noted that there are no signs that it causes a more serious disease or will evade any of the vaccines being rolled out.

He said: “It will come as no surprise to everybody to know that the situation in Wales is very serious at the moment.

“We’ve seen cases of coronavirus in all parts of Wales in very high rates.

“The seven day average at the moment is around about 480 per 100,000, which is way too high.

“There are signs that it’s rising, rising in many parts of the country, particularly in North Wales, where we’re seeing quite rapid increases in Wrexham in Flintshire

“There are two real reasons for this, one is for too much population mixing but the other one is, of course, there is a new variant strain.

“About one in four of all the coronavirus tests that we do in Wales at the moment are coming back as positive.

“This shows that there’s a lot of it’s very widespread in terms of transmission in our communities.

“Also, and this particularly concerns me, but we are seeing rises in the rates in the over 60s, part of our population. We know that matters, because that leads to more severe infection, to hospitalisation.”

Asked by the Daily Post why places such as Wrexham and Flintshire are seeing a sharp rise in case numbers, Dr Atherton noted that population density and a similar pattern to earlier waves of infection could also be playing a part.

He said: “In the north at the moment which is quite a hotspot for the new variant, we think about 70 per cent of the cases that are proving positive are probably related to the new variant.

“In other parts of Wales is probably a bit less, but it does vary.

“There is a significant amount of it and, as we’ve seen in London and the southeast, once it’s in the population it rapidly spreads to become the dominant strain.”

Dr Atherton added: “We saw earlier in the pandemic a significant uptick in infections before we had the variant in Wrexham if you’ll recall, that that did lead to quite a lot of concern around there.

“There are kind of issues around borders, the border with England. What we saw in the first wave was infection moving from east to west, so it does tend to move east to west from south to north.

“That’s the pattern we’re seeing, probably in this second wave are the same as we saw in the first wave. But that’s somewhat speculative.”

Dr Goodall also highlighted the strain that hospital staff are under and urged people to play their part by following the rules that are in place.

He said: “The NHS Wales is under immense pressure, but we have made significant changes so people can continue to receive life-saving treatment.

“It’s essential that people get emergency care if they need it and please don’t delay getting help. If you need non-urgent medical attention please consider some of the alternative services and contact as necessary your GP or call NHS 111 or other services like pharmacies.

“The last few weeks in particular have been extremely difficult for the NHS and for staff at all levels.

“I wanted to acknowledge the commitment of the health and care workforce throughout the last year. You are maintaining a response on behalf of the world’s population despite the enormous impact of coronavirus on our system.

“I hope we don’t take advantage of their professional approach. We need to act together to control and reduce levels of coronavirus in our communities.

“You can help us, to help you by following the rules – keeping your distance from each other, practicing good hand hygiene, working from home wherever you can and wearing a face mask in indoor public places.

“If we don’t do this, we may see numbers of people being admitted which will overwhelm the NHS’s ability to respond over the coming weeks.

“You can also help us with your choices about accessing services. Please help us to help you.”

Top pic: Slide shown at the briefing today.

Below, watch the full brief :

Yn fyw nawr gyda Phrif Weithredwr GIG Cymru Andrew Goodall a Phrif Swyddog Meddygol Cymru Frank Atherton | Live now with NHS Wales Chief Executive Andrew Goodall and CMO for Wales Frank Atherton https://t.co/OVyOslS9Mf

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) January 6, 2021