11,000 new coronavirus cases to be reported in Wales after backlog
Around 11,000 additional Welsh coronavirus cases will be reported by Public Health Wales tomorrow after a backlog from the last several days.
The backlog in daily reporting figures has been caused by planned maintenance to the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System.
PHW insisted it has not affected people receiving their coronavirus test results and they expect higher figures over the coming days.
A spokesperson said: "Today’s figures only include a very small number of results from tests processed in the Lighthouse Laboratories and therefore represent a significant under-estimation of the true picture. We ask everyone who is using these figures to be fully mindful of this caveat.
“Today’s delay was related to the maintenance of the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System (WLIMS). This took place on Friday and Saturday (11 - 12 December) so that essential service upgrades could take place.
“This means that we expect a backlog of results to come through over the coming days, and there will be a period of data reconciliation and validation that will affect our daily reporting figures for several days. Tomorrow’s figures and those over the following days will be higher as a result of the backlog coming through. Across Wales, tomorrow we will be reporting in the region of 11,000 new positive cases. Full breakdown by local regions are currently being analysed and will be available in tomorrow’s dashboard update.
“We stress this has not affected individuals receiving their results, and anyone who tests positive will be contacted by their local authority’s Test, Trace, Protect team in the usual way."