Covid: Holyhead's schools could shut to curb virus flare-up

The town is Anglesey's largest, and home to the UK's second busiest passenger ferry port

A town's schools could be closed in a bid to curb "extremely concerning" Covid-19 infection rates.

In Holyhead, on Anglesey, there have been 43 positive tests in the past seven days. The town had an average case rate of 401.2 per 100,000 over that period.

Over the past seven days, the rate for Wales was 42.5.

Anglesey council leader Llinos Medi Huws said "all options" were being considered in discussions with schools.

She told Dros Frecwast, on Radio Cymru, that as well as the idea of closing schools discussions included whether there was a need for a local lockdown around Holyhead.

Llinos Medi Huws says people with a wider range of symptoms will be able to get a test

"We're looking at all options but we need to look at how realistic it is to enforce them because we're dependent on the local people complying with the new restrictions," she said.

Speaking to Newyddion S4C on Wednesday evening, Ms Huws said the council had decided to widen testing to include people with a wider range of symptoms.

The authority would also extend the opening hours of the testing centre in Holyhead and allow people to turn up without an appointment, she said.

'Stick to social distancing'

So far this month, 54% of the 174 positive coronavirus cases on Anglesey - identified through the Test, Trace and Protect team - have been in and around Holyhead.

Staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd, in Bangor, were caring for 32 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday morning - 15 of whom had become infected in hospital, according to Alyson Constantine, acute care director at the hospital.

She added there were also 31 recovering patients who had had Covid.

The council said although some cases had links to the recent outbreak at Ysbyty Gwynedd, household, cross-household and workplace transmission in the Holyhead area were "also increasing and a significant cause for concern".

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Prevention and Surveillance Group chairman and deputy council chief executive Dylan Williams said: "The situation in Holyhead and recent increase in cases is extremely concerning.

"We must all play our part now by following the all-important guidance - sticking to social distancing, wearing a mask when we need to and not mixing with family and friends.

"We understand that these measures are tough on everyone it is the only way we can return to some sort of normality."

Welsh government officials say they are monitoring the situation on the island

Speaking at Wednesday's coronavirus briefing, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said the Welsh government was "concerned" about growing rates of the virus in Merthyr Tydfil, Conwy and Anglesey.

He said in the case of Anglesey in particular, it was important to gain an understanding of why case numbers were rising.

"We are concerned about those three authorities in particular, because we're aware they have the most visible rise in case rates", he said.

"If they'd followed the national trend overall then we would have seen a further reduction, so they do make a difference to the overall figure.

"In the one sense, it makes it much more visible, because the rest of Wales has been able to behave collectively together in such a way where we've been able to keep coronavirus rates low."

Dr Frank Atherton, Chief Medical Officer for Wales, said: "Where you have small populations like Anglesey, like Merthyr for example, any movement in the numbers because of clusters of cases, due to household mixing or whatever, small changes in the numbers can lead to big changes in the rates because the population is quite small. So we're seeing a bit of that in Anglesey, I think."

'Manage outbreaks locally'

He told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers: "Although the rates have been falling, and falling very well, they do seem to be bottoming out - the message still has to be, whilst we get the vaccine rolled out we have to be cautious as a nation, particularly avoid mixing with households."

When asked if we would see more local lockdowns, he said: "The experience last year with local lockdowns wasn't very encouraging, we found that a once-for-Wales approach is more effective in bringing rates down.

"Local outbreaks can be managed locally - if we see spikes or occurrences in a local authority area or based on an employer then that will be managed locally. If the rates overall across Wales start to go up, then who knows - we can't rule out the fact we might have to reverse that."

When asked about the flare-up on Anglesey, Conservative member of the Senedd (MS) Janet Finch-Saunders said: "I do not agree with local lockdowns."

The Aberconwy MS added: "I think it's about finding out exactly how this happened, but it is fair to say that people are becoming very tired now of restricted movement."

The Welsh government said it was "closely monitoring the situation" and would "consider whether further measures are needed".