A HIGH portion of newly confirmed coronavirus cases centre on North Wales, new figures reveal.

The latest data released by Public Health Wales shows that Wrexham was once again the Welsh county that reported the highest number of new infections of COVID-19.

The charts state that in Wrexham there has been a total of 22 new cases reported as of Saturday, June 27. In total, this brings Wrexham’s overall amount of COVID-19 infections to 814.

Across the region, data provided by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board reports that four cases were confirmed in Conwy, three in Flintshire, two in Anglesey, one in Denbighshire.

There were no new confirmed cases in Gwynedd.

Public Health Wales figures show that in the BCUHB area, there have been 352 deaths top date across the six county areas in North Wales.

In relation to the two local outbreaks in Wrexhan and Anglesey, Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “Testing of the workforce associated with an outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Wrexham area is continuing.

“Public Health Wales is in the process of combining test information to identify the total number of positive cases associated with the workforce at Rowan Foods Ltd. So far this process has identified a total of 166 confirmed cases.

“The number of cases reported today suggests no change has occurred in the past 24 hours. However, we expect this number to go up once all the workers associated with the site have been tested and their results analysed.”

Dr Shanker adds that Public Health Wales are working with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to urgently contact just over 300 workers that have not yet presented for testing.

He continues: “As we would expect with any focused track and trace process, we will identify additional asymptomatic cases. Finding these cases does not mean that the rate of infection in the Wrexham area is increasing as a whole.

“There is no evidence that Rowan Foods is the source of the outbreak. The multi-agency team managing the outbreak with Public Health Wales will continue to review the situation and work with the employer, their workforce and wider community to bring this outbreak to a swift conclusion.”

With regards to Anglesey, he said: “Following the multi-agency Outbreak Control Team meeting which took place on Friday 26 June, a total of 210 cases of Novel Coronavirus have been identified in the workforce associated with the 2 Sisters plant in Llangefni, Anglesey. This represents a small increase of six positive cases reported in the past 24-hour period.

“The increase in reported cases is low, which is reassuring and is evidence that the control measures put in place combined with the rapid testing process, have worked.

“There is no evidence to suggest that the outbreak among the workforce at the 2 Sisters plant has led to significant community transmission.

“It should be noted that any increase in the number of cases found in the workforce does not mean that the infection is increasing in the local population as a whole.”

Looking at the Wales-wide figures it shows that, as of June 27, there have been a total of 15,577 confirmed cases of the virus reported by health boards.

Sadly, five new deaths were confirmed in Wales as being linked to the virus which brings the death toll up to 1,502 people.

In his statement, Dr Shanker continues: “It is timely to remind everyone that we all have a vital role in preventing the spread of Coronavirus by always sticking to social distancing guidelines – that’s staying two metres away from others and washing hands regularly. 

“Public Health Wales welcomes the relaxation of lockdown measures, but reminds the public that we are not yet back to business as usual. 

“We would urge members of the public to continue to stay local and avoid visiting locations, such as beaches, where proper social distancing is impossible to achieve.”