‘We are very concerned there is a risk the NHS could become overwhelmed’ – open letter to public stresses seriousness of Covid situation in Wales

An open letter has been issued stressing the severity of the situation in Wales as coronavirus cases hit a second peak.

Public bodies say they’re highly concerned that the NHS in the country could soon be overwhelmed because of the number of people being admitted to hospital.

The frankly written letter, signed jointly by the Welsh Government, along with police, NHS and local government bodies, particularly notes the large number of cases in North Wales.

The increase in the region is said to have been driven by a new variant of the virus which was recently identified.

A warning has also been sounded that people who breach the current alert level 4 restrictions will be punished.

The letter can be read in full below:

The situation in Wales is very serious at the moment.

A new strain of the virus is moving quickly across Wales – it spreads easily between people whenever we are together.

It has a firm foothold in North Wales, where cases of coronavirus are rising sharply, and it could soon become the main cause of infections in South Wales too.

This same strain of the virus is causing problems in many parts of the UK.

We moved to alert level four – lockdown – to protect people’s health and control the spread of coronavirus just before Christmas.

This new strain of virus makes it even more important that we all follow the rules and stay at home. That also means working from home, if possible.

Frontline workers are continuing to put our health and safety first, every day. But, as cases of coronavirus rise, so does the pressure on our NHS.

We are very concerned there is a risk the NHS could become overwhelmed because so many people are falling ill. We all need to stay at home again and protect our NHS.

Thank you so much to everyone who is following the rules. We know this is a really difficult time and we know everyone is making sacrifices to keep their family and Wales safe.

The new Covid-19 vaccines offer us all the hope of a brighter future in the months ahead.

We are working really hard to make the vaccine available to everyone who needs it.

In the meantime, we need to carry on following the rules and protecting ourselves and our families.

For all those who are breaking the rules, and putting themselves first, action will be taken.

Yesterday Wrexham.com reported that the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals across Wales is now double the peak of last April.

Currently there are around 2870 coronavirus related patients being treated in hospital.

Speaking yesterday Dr Andrew Goodall, chief executive of the NHS in Wales, said although there were some tentative signs of optimism that cases are “beginning to stabilise” in parts of Wales it would take time for this to have any affect on the pressures on the NHS.

He said: “We have now exceeded double the peak we experienced during the first wave in April. At that level, the NHS will have to make some very difficult decisions about the balance of services it can provide.

“We would not normally start the very busy winter period with a third of our beds unavailable for normal NHS pressures. This is simply unprecedented.

“My greatest concern at the moment is the impact on critical care, units are under enormous pressure as we continue to see people who are very sick with coronavirus admitted to critical care across Wales.”