People urged to avoid emergency department 'unless it is necessary' as number of coronavirus cases increases in Wrexham
A north Wales health board are asking people not to come to the A&E at Wrexham Maelor Hospital "unless it is necessary" due to an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the area.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said despite the number of confirmed cases being generally low across north Wales, "over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase" in the Wrexham area.
Between July 20 and 26, there were 61 confirmed cases of the virus reported in Wrexham, this is an increase from the previous two weeks where there were 33 cases reported in each respectively.
Wrexham has had more coronavirus cases reported each week than any other area in Wales since the first week of June, according to data from Public Health Wales.
A spokesperson for Wrexham Maelor Hospital said there were currently around 60 to 70 patients there with coronavirus.
While the number of coronavirus cases has been falling in general across the country, Wrexham saw an increase between Monday 20 and Friday 25 July.
There were 24 confirmed cases of the virus in Wrexham on that Monday - the highest number of cases in a single day since almost a month prior, when there were 44 cases on 25 June.
Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board, urged people to avoid visiting the emergency department at Wrexham Maelor Hospital "unless it is necessary".
She added: "We are now actively encouraging patients, the public and staff to wear face coverings or masks in public areas of all Health Board sites.
"We appeal to the public for their support as we all have a role to play in preventing the spread of infection. We ask that our communities continue to maintain good hand hygiene and observe social distancing guidance."
Following an outbreak of the virus at a food factory in Wrexham in mid-June, more than 300 people associated with the Rowan Foods site have been confirmed to have the virus.
Dr Giri Shankar, Incident Director for the coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said they continue to monitor cases associated with this outbreak.
The recent rise in cases in Wrexham comes as the number of deaths from coronavirus each day in Wales has been consistently low and in single figures since early June.
On Monday, the total amount of confirmed cases across Wales stood at 17,170