More than 6,000 people tested in Merthyr Tydfil as mass testing pilot continues
More than 6,000 people have participated in the mass testing scheme in Merthyr Tydfil since it started at the weekend.
The area is the first in Wales to participate in mass testing after it was rolled out in Liverpool earlier this month following a rise in the number of cases.
In the five full days of testing that has taken place, the council confirmed 6,124 people had participated in the scheme.
No official figures on the number of positive results from the scheme have been released but Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething said that early data showed a positivity rate of around 1%.
Public Health Wales reported that there had been 34 new cases of the virus in Merthyr on Thursday.
Last week, Merthyr Tydfil briefly became the worst-hit area of the UK, with 741 cases per 100,000 people and it is hoped that the mass testing will help control the spread of coronavirus in the region.
There had been concerns raised by some members of the public over the large number of people that were queuing outside of the leisure centre testing facility during early days of the scheme.
Mr Gething discussed this at the Welsh Government press conference, indicating that people should still be socially distancing whilst outside the facility.
"It has been an obvious concern that we looked at in the planning. People should be maintaining a social distance in the queues," he said.
"People are being diverted away from the queues if they have symptoms and directed away from those queues but we are asking people to be responsible when they arrive."
The council has since confirmed that it has opened a number of new sites across the area to help prevent a build-up of people at the test sites.
Mass testing locations in Merthyr:
Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre
Aberfan Community Centre
Alpha House
Cefn Community Centre
Dowlais Community Centre
The Engine House
The Old Clinic
You can watch ITV Wales' Valleys correspondent Hannah Thomas' report here.