Coronavirus: Hospital admissions rise in hotspot areas

Image caption Council leaders in Rhondda Cynon Taff have warned about potential local lockdowns here

Hospital admissions of patients with coronavirus in a health board covering the south Wales valleys have doubled in the last week.

There were 72 admissions in Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board in the week to Tuesday, according to figures from NHS Wales.

It is the highest figure since the start of August.

There has been concern about rising infections in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil.

Numbers have also risen in the Aneurin Bevan health board area, which covers Caerphilly county, the area put into local lockdown earlier this week.

Hospital admissions with Covid-19

Numbers by week

Up to 8 September

Source: Stats Wales/NHS Wales, 10 September

There were 76 hospital admissions in the week to 8 September - the highest total for 10 weeks.

Caerphilly has the second highest rate for coronavirus infections in the UK in the last seven days, after Bolton, Greater Manchester.

But there are concerns if those infections start translating down the line into hospital admissions.

The seven-day average in total daily admissions to hospitals of confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases in Wales is currently 54, about the same as last week.

Overall, numbers of patients in hospital with coronavirus in Wales have continued to fall.

These include those in critical care.

Critical care in Wales

Numbers in invasive ventilated and critical care beds

Normal critical care bed capacity is 152 beds

Source: NHS Wales Informatics, 10 September

The figures show:

There were 249 coronavirus-related patients in hospital beds - 42 fewer than last week
Of those - 13 were confirmed Covid-19 patients, 150 were suspected and 86 were recovering from the virus
A total of nine people were being treated on invasive ventilated beds, including in critical care, for confirmed or suspected coronavirus - five fewer than the week before
Aneurin Bevan, Betsi Cadwaladr, Cardiff and Vale and Swansea Bay health boards each had two patients in critical or ventilated care and one in Cwm Taf Morgannwg - all suspected Covid-19 patients apart from one of the Cardiff patients, who is a confirmed case
Hywel Dda had no Covid-19 patients in critical care.

Meanwhile, separate weekly figures for the "test, trace, protect" system for contacting people with coronavirus and tracing contacts, shows 98% of the 1,860 positive cases since 21 June were reached and were able to provide details of their recent contacts.

In the most recent week, 96% of the 424 positive cases were reached.

Of the 5,834 close contacts that were eligible for follow-up, 94% were successfully contacted and advised, according to NHS Wales.

The Welsh Government said this shows it was reaching more contacts than the system in England.