Covid: Wales' Test, Trace, Protect extended until March 2022

Test and trace is "key" in fighting the spread of new Covid-19 variants and the scheme will be extended into next year, it has been announced.

There has been some concern over a small rise in cases linked to a variant of concern first identified in India.

There are thousands of cases are in England and fewer than 100 in Wales, with a cluster in Conwy.

Health minister Eluned Morgan said on Sunday it would be "very difficult" to contain a spread from England.

The Welsh government has now announced its Test, Trace, Protect (TTP) service will be extended until March 2022 to help tackle potential outbreaks.

Most of these are linked to international travel, but none are thought to have led to people needing hospital treatment so far.

Updated figures are expected to be published by Public Health Wales later this week, while the UK government said up to three quarters of new cases could be of the Indian variant, which has been renamed Delta by the World Health Organization.

TTP teams in Wales are carrying out "enhanced contact tracing" to try and tackle new variants of concern.

According to the Welsh government, contact tracers have reached 99.7% of all positive cases eligible for follow up since the service was introduced last June.

And 95% of close contacts eligible for follow up have been traced - those who came within a certain distance or had spent a prolonged period of time with someone who had tested positive.

An additional £32m will go towards the work of TTP.

Baroness Morgan hailed the Welsh contact tracing strategy a success.

"Test, Trace, Protect has been extremely effective at supporting people who have tested positive and their contacts to isolate and providing advice, guidance and support. It is critical to stopping the virus spreading in our communities," she said.

"[Contact tracers] have done much more than their title suggests - they have identified vulnerable people and got them extra support, whether that be someone to chat to, a food parcel, or linking in with vital mental health services.

"As we seek to stop the spread of new variants of concern, experienced contact tracers are key to doing this effectively and we are continuing to invest in this work."