Second Maelor Hospital outbreak ‘being managed’ after ‘re-spike’ in hospital acquired cases

The Health Minister has said the situation in Wrexham Maelor Hospital ‘has got worse’ with a ‘re-spike’ of coronavirus.

On Friday evening the Health Board said there were “currently 49 COVID-19 cases associated with the outbreak at Wrexham Maelor Hospital”, up from 20 hospital acquired cases the week before.

Two weeks ago we asked the First Minister about the then newly declared outbreak, he replied describing it as ‘small’ and he had been told it was ‘under control’.

Today we put the recent update and the comments from the First Minister to the Health Minister Vaughan Gething, and asked if the situation was still classed as under control.

The Health Minister replied, “There is an active infection that’s being managed, an outbreak, in the Maelor. So it has got worse from where it was two weeks.”

“We have seen another recent re-spike. So we’re going to understand exactly what’s happening and the measures being taken.”

“Again, this really highlights this pernicious infection, it’s highly contagious, and if you think you have it under control, then a breach of our defences can lead to significant harm very, very quickly.”

“With community transmission as high as they are today in most parts of our country, that’s why it’s so important for us all to take the right steps. So, the points about face coverings, about hand hygiene, about keeping our distance. It’s also so important for people to make use of PPE in different settings and those really strict infection prevention control measures.”

“Even with all of those happening with the level of transmission taking place, it is still possible that we’ll continue to see outbreaks in our hospitals. That’s why we’re all looking to see how far can we suppress growth of the virus, because otherwise it will cause harm in each of these closed environments.”

The full Welsh Government briefing can be found on the below video:

Cynhadledd i'r Wasg gyda'r Gweinidog Iechyd Vaughan Gething | Press Conference with Health Minister Vaughan Gething https://t.co/wSYDL1a6g6

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) November 23, 2020