Covid in Wales: Four more cases of South African variant found
- Published
Four more cases of the South African variant of Covid have been found in Wales, says Public Health Wales (PHW).
It brings the total number of cases of the variant found in Wales to 17.
Three of the new cases - found in west Wales - have been linked to international travel, while the fourth was linked to a previously identified case in Neath Port Talbot.
PHW said there was no evidence of wider community transmission. It continues to investigate cases with no travel links.
Scientists fear vaccines may be less effective against the South African variant of coronavirus, although there is no evidence it causes more severe illness.
PHW had previously announced 13 cases of the variant, three of which had no links to travel to the region, sparking fears over community transmission.
But the public health agency said one of these three cases, found in Anglesey, had now been linked back to international travel, while it had not found evidence of further transmission of another case in Conwy.
The third of these early South African variant cases, found in Neath Port Talbot, has been linked to one of the new cases announced on Wednesday.
Dr Shankar, Public Health Wales' Covid-19 incident director, says there is no evidence of community transmission of the variant
Dr Giri Shankar, Covid-19 incident director for Public Health Wales, said: "The identification of these cases demonstrates that well-established processes under the Test, Trace, Protect strategy are proving to be effective.
"Public Health Wales is working in close partnership with the Welsh Government, local health boards and local authorities to find out where the virus was acquired, and if any onward transmission has occurred.
"This is a small number of cases and there is no evidence at the moment that sustained community transmission has occurred."