Image source, DAVID DIXON/GEOGRAPH

Hundreds of members of staff have been redeployed to support the most-essential services in Powys, the council has said.

The local authority has been retraining and redeploying staff to fill roles left vacant by others unable to work due to underlying health issues, shielding rules or because they were self-isolating with Covid-19 symptoms.

Some have also been drafted in to help with services experiencing an increase in demand, such as income and awards and customer services.

So far more than 750 redeployed staff have been, or soon will be, used in areas including childcare hubs, waste and recycling collections, income and awards, social services.

Councillor Graham Breeze, cabinet member for corporate governance and engagement, said the redeployment team were processing what was usually a month's work every week.

"It really is an incredible effort and we are grateful for their hard work," he said.

First Minister Mark Drakeford has welcomed the arrival of 200,000 items of Personal Protection Equipment for front-line workers to Cardiff Airport.

More than 200 residents self isolating in Blaenau Gwent have received emergency food parcels, according to the council.

It said it had spoken to more than 1,000 householders who have received shielding letters which can give them priority access to home-delivery slots from supermarkets.

A pub in Pontypool has been fined for breaching lockdown rules.

Officers from Torfaen council’s public protection team took enforcement action after police found members of the public drinking at the bar of The Hanbury Arms, on Clarence Street.

Prohibition notices were served to the manager and premises license holder and a fixed penalty notice of £60.

The pub will be monitored for any further breaches and a failure to comply could lead to a prosecution.

Image source, Google

Image source, EPA

A union says it will fight to keep hundreds of agency workers at Airbus furloughed for as long as possible, after they were placed at risk of redundancy following the Covid-19 outbreak.

On Monday, the aerospace giant announced it would furlough 3,200 staff at its north Wales site.

And Unite says 500 workers were furloughed by Guidant Global two weeks ago.

However, it says Guidant yesterday started a consultation process after the workers were ear-marked for redundancy.

The union says most of the 500 are based at Broughton in Flintshire, with a small number at Filton in Bristol.

Image source, Reuters

Daz Reynolds, Unite site convenor at Broughton, said there would now be a 45-day consultation period for the workers.

“There’s a meeting planned for tomorrow, where the union will be asking Guidant that they extend the consultation period for as long as the UK government furlough scheme is in place," he added.

The UK government’s furlough scheme - which supports firms hit by coronavirus by temporarily helping to pay wages - is in place until the end of June.

A spokesperson for plane-maker Airbus said on Tuesday it continued to evaluate its "operational requirements against the Covid-19 environment".

"The latest reviews identified a need to reduce temporary production and production-support labour provided by Guidant and that situation remains unchanged," they added.

Construction teams are back on site of a major project in Carmarthenshire, a month after tools were downed because of coronavirus.

In line with Welsh Government guidance, Carmarthenshire council has agreed with its contractor to recommence work on its Cross Hand East Strategic Employment Site.

A new completion date of September has now been set for the site that will create seven more plots for employment premises to accommodate about 500 new jobs.

Richard Tidmarsh, for Alun Griffiths Ltd, said: “We would like to reassure the public that all works are being undertaken following strict government guidance and with suitable arrangements in place for staff to work safely.

“This has been a troubling time for the construction industry and it is great to be back on site.”

Two brothers with coronavirus have died within hours of one another.

Ghulam Abbass, 59, and Razza Ghulam, 53, had been treated in adjoining beds in the ICU at the Royal Gwent Hospital.

The brothers, from Newport, died on 22 April - just three weeks after the death of their father, Ghulam Mohammed, who had an unrelated condition.

The family ran a newsagents in Pill for more than 20 years, and Razza Abbass was a manager at The Range distribution centre in Avonmouth.

Image source, MUBARAK ALI

Image source, MUBARAK ALI

Wales rugby legend Shane Williams is nearing the end of a mammoth cycle challenge which will see him cover 774 miles over seven days.

The distance is what he would have cycled in the events which have been cancelled due to coronavirus.

So far he has raised more than £12,000 for Velindre Cancer Centre and other charities.

Opposition parties say hundreds of ventilators meant to have been made available to the Welsh NHS by the UK government have not yet arrived.

On 6 April, Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething, said 1,035 had been bought through UK arrangements.

But, in a written answer to the Conservatives, he said only 171 had been distributed, with 60 in reserve.

Speaking at a news briefing on Tuesday, Mr Gething said: "We have enough and we're going to have enough."

Suzy Davies, Conservative Mid and West Wales AM, said: "I have to ask where are our missing 700 ventilators?

"It is lucky for the Welsh Government that these ventilators have so far not been needed, but it could have been a completely different story."

Image source, Getty Images

Big Issue sellers have been hit hard by the decision to stop offering the magazine on the streets during the lockdown.

Kelvin Lloyd, who sells it in Caernarfon, says he has been offered emotional and financial support by the charity, but is struggling with the isolation.

“My mental health is suffering,” he said. “I’m getting depressed, and I don’t know what to do with myself.”

The Big Issue says it is trying to contact all its vendors to offer help, but warns that this is “an incredibly lonely time” for many of them.

A minute's silence has been held across the UK to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and First Minister Mark Drakeford also joined the tribute at 11:00 BST.

More than 100 NHS and care staff have died with the virus, as have many transport and other key workers.

Hywel Dda University Health Board has issued a statement after it emerged a total of 31 coronavirus deaths in west Wales were not included in Public Health Wales (PHW) statistics.

Medical director Dr Philip Kloer said: “We apologise for any distress caused by this but can assure families that they have received accurate information, at the time, about the death of their loved ones.

“This error relates not to how we register deaths, but how we uniformly and in a timely manner share this data with Public Health Wales.

“We have now corrected this position and from tomorrow, data on Hywel Dda UHB published by Public Health Wales will reflect the current position accurately.

"We have also put in place additional actions and checks to ensure our staff are supported with the process.”

Another 17 people in Wales have died with coronavirus - taking the total number to 813, Public Health Wales (PHW) has said.

On Tuesday, the latest update from PHW showed there were 232 confirmed new cases, taking the total to 9,512.

The true number is likely to be higher as many with symptoms are not tested.

There have been 1,191 new tests carried out bringing the total number of tests carried out to 34,448.

Global confirmed cases of Covid-19 stand at more than 2.8 million, with close to 200,000 deaths.

A social care leader says news that care home deaths from Covid-19 have doubled is “utterly shocking but not surprising”.

A report from the Office of Nationals Statistics (ONS) showed that in the week ending 17 April, there were 119 deaths from Covid-19 in care homes, compared with 56 deaths the previous week.

Mario Kreft, chairman of Care Forum Wales, said the figures were an indictment of the failure to lock down earlier and harder.

Accepting hospital patients into care homes had, he claimed, played a major role in enabling the spread of the infection at such an alarming rate.

“The fact that the number of care home deaths from Covid has more than doubled within a seven-day period is utterly shocking but sadly not surprising," said Mr Kreft.

“The true situation will be even worse than these new figures suggest because of the time lag in publishing them.

“We can also see a clear increase in care-home deaths during the last few weeks – not all of which mention Covid on death cert but likely there are more that are hidden.

“The information from the Office of Nationals Statistics has unfortunately confirmed what we have been warning about since February.”

People fishing illegally during lockdown are being warned they are being watched by officers.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said people should check that trout, salmon and seabass they buy, especially via social media, has not been caught illegally.

Officials, alongside officers from North Wales Police's Rural Crime Team, will be patrolling the Menai Strait in Gwynedd - a known spot for illegal fishing.

Vanessa Lang, NRW Team Leader in North Wales said: “We remain determined to prevent illegal and reckless behaviour by a small minority that damage our native fish stocks and natural environment."

Image source, IOM Government

More than 1,500 face shields for NHS and care workers have been made and supplied by design and technology teacher Matt Roberts and colleagues at Ysgol Emrys ap Iwan in Abergele.

Matt said they have a rota system and a production line, external, with teachers from various departments coming in to help.

"We started using school materials, but as the demand has increased we are now relying on donations from the public to buy the materials required," said Matt, who is also a special constable for North Wales Police.

Opposition parties in Wales say “broken promises” on hundreds of missing ventilators is “shocking”.

Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives have challenged the Welsh Government on hundreds of ventilators that were meant to be made available to the NHS in Wales by the UK government.

On April 6, Wales’ Health Minister Vaughan Gething said 1,035 had been bought through UK arrangements.

However in a written answer to the Welsh Conservatives, Mr Gething said only 171 dual purpose and non-invasive ventilators have been distributed to health boards in Wales and 60 are in reserve.

Mr Gething said in a Welsh Government press briefing today: "We have enough and we’re going to have enough."

Suzy Davies, Welsh Conservative assembly member for Mid & West Wales, said: “I have to ask where are our missing 700 ventilators?

"It is lucky for the Welsh Government that these ventilators have so far not been needed, but it could have been a completely different story.”

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said: “We cannot discount the very real possibility of a second spike, and Wales needs every piece of life-saving equipment promised to us in order to be fully prepared."

Mr Gething said: “More are coming into the system each week, so if the point is 'do we have enough', the answer is yes.

"If the point is 'are we going to get the full thousand', the answer is yes.”

A total of 31 coronavirus deaths in west Wales were not included in Public Health Wales (PHW) statistics, the health minister Vaughan Gething has said.

The most recent PHW data shows just five deaths in the Hywel Dda health board area, which includes the counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

Mr Gething described it as a “material under-reporting issue”.

Last week it emerged that the north Wales health board Betsi Cadwaladr had failed to report 84 deaths to PHW over the course of a month.

Mr Gething said that “individual family communication” had not been affected and those families who had lost loved ones had been informed at the time.

He today said that all reporting systems are now “consistent.”

“We're absolutely clear now, that all the reporting systems are consistent, everyone is going to use the same reporting method. “And that should then mean that from the figures today and tomorrow will be fully up to date.

“And what I think is really important is it doesn't change our understanding of the disease profile across Wales.

“But there are certainly lessons to learn as we progress through this about each part of our system, share information with each other, and then the confidence of public have but also ministers have in making choices and providing information to the public.”