A NEW scheme to help trace the potential spread of coronavirus is to be trialled in North Wales, it has been announced.

Speaking at the daily Welsh Government covid-19 briefing on Tuesday, Health Minister Vaughan Gething confirmed the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area is one of four in Wales which will be running a pilot project as part of efforts to develop a nationwide contact tracing system.

He explained: "[This is] so we can track the progress of the disease by tracing who each person wth coronavirus has been in contact with.

"We will pilot the contact tracing in four health board areas; Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Powys, Betsi Cadwaladr and Hywel Dda.

"Each pilot will be delivered with a local authority and their staff. "They will run for two weeks and are small scale."

The minister explained the schemes will test "key aspects" including workforce roles and training, clinical support, data capture, contact volumes and information flow.

It will also entail scenario planning and arranging support for people who need to self isolate, he said.

Mr Gething continued: "The second week of the trail will also help us to test a new all-Wales contact tracing system which will support health boards and Local authorities to carry out contact tracing on a larger scale."