Daily coronavirus deaths at highest for three weeks while most new cases in north Wales

More than half of the new coronavirus cases reported today were in north Wales. Credit: PA Images

The amount of coronavirus deaths reported in the past 24 hours is at its highest daily number for the past three weeks.

Five people are reported to have died from coronavirus according to Public Health Wales's daily statistics.

There were also 32 new cases of the virus reported today - 22 of those were in north Wales with 15 in Wrexham.

This comes as Wrexham has seen an increase in the number of coronavirus cases over the past few weeks, with 60 to 70 patients in hospital there who are confirmed to have the virus.

Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said two mobile testing units were set up in Wrexham on Wednesday "to help manage cases of Covid-19 in the community".

They are based at Caia Park Health Centre on Prince Charles Road and at Hightown Community Resource Centre on Fusilier Way. People do not need to book ahead to get a test, they can just visit one of the sites between 9am and 6pm for the next few days.

People have also been urged to stay away Wrexham Maelor's emergency department unless it is necessary.

Betsi Cadawladr Health Board said they do not currently plan to make use of the field hospital capacity to deal with the spike in cases at Wrexham.

Mark Wilkinson, Executive Director of Planning and Performance at the health board, said: "Because we have sufficient capacity within our existing facilities to appropriately treat and isolate patients from Wrexham and Flintshire who test positive for Covid-19, we are not currently looking to use the Deeside Rainbow Hospital to provide inpatient care.

"However, we are monitoring our bed capacity on a daily basis to determine whether we need to use the additional resource set up in Deeside."

There are between 60 and 70 patients at Wrexham Maelor Hospital who are confirmed to have the virus. Credit: PA Images

When asked about the likelihood of a local lockdown in Wrexham, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: "We are currently seeing a larger number of Covid-19 cases in Wrexham than in other parts of Wales.

"Action to contain any spread will always be taken at the most local level possible and any national direction would always be a last resort.

"We are monitoring the situation and will take extra measures if needed."

The last time as many as five coronavirus deaths were reported in one day was on Saturday 4 July. Numbers of deaths had remained lower since then, mostly at zero, one or two.