Rise in coronavirus cases among students suspected to be cause of virus spike in Gwynedd, says Health Minister as area goes over 57 cases per 100k

A rise in coronavirus cases among students has been highlighted as a possible reason behind a spike in the virus in Gwynedd.

The county was one of only two areas in North Wales to avoid new local lockdown measures last week, along with Anglesey, as the rate of Covid-19 cases was lower than in Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy.

Last Wednesday, Gwynedd had 14.5 cases per 100,000 people, however today’s figures show that has risen to 57.8 per 100,000.

The amount is now in excess of other areas under lockdown restrictions.

Anglesey on the other hand was at 10 cases per 100,000 last week and has only experienced a modest rise up to 14.3 since then.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething was asked at this afternoon’s coronavirus briefing whether the two counties would follow other parts of North Wales into lockdown following the increase.

He said in his response that it could be the case that some groups of students in Gwynedd would be asked to self isolate rather than imposing community-wide measures.

He said: “It isn’t clear that we need to take any action in those areas. Anglesey isn’t at the point where we think that we would need to take action based upon the figures.”

“With Gwynedd, we’re seeing a rise in cases, but we think that is linked to a handful of positive cases within the student population.”

“We’re looking to separate that out in exactly the same way we have done with contained communities in the past.

“I think about Two Sisters in Anglesey, I think about Rowan Foods in Wrexham and Kepak in Merthyr.

“If we understand that’s what’s happening, and that’s my understanding at present, then what we need to do is to isolate parts of the community where the infection is actually there and where there are new cases and not take collective action across the whole community.

“That may mean that some people in part of the student community may need to isolate but not the whole student community.

“We’re treating our students exactly as we would do with any other part of the population.

“If that’s the case, then we may not need to take action in Gwynedd or Anglesey or any other parts of Wales that don’t currently have restrictions.”