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Eight people have died and six are in intensive care at a hospital in Wales after a major coronavirus outbreak was declared.
Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant announced “significant temporary service restrictions” after confirming 82 cases of COVID-19 in the place.
This includes stopping planned surgery, except for some urgent cancer operations.
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Royal Glamorgan has suspended planned surgeries
Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said: “We understand this is a serious situation and how upsetting it is for everyone involved.”
“The situation is worrying and all measures are being taken to protect existing patients and staff and to ensure that residents who were supposed to leave the hospital are directed to appropriate care at other nearby hospitals.”
He added that he was working with health authorities to understand the reasons for the outbreak, which Deputy Medical Director Dr. Ruth Alcolado said was likely due to a “super spreader event.”
“We must have had an event where multiple patients were infected, perhaps by one individual at a certain point in time, and then that was amplified much more quickly,” he said.
The Royal Glamorgan Hospital is located in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which is currently locked up locally.
The increase in cases comes a week after the health board said 34 cases of COVID-19 had been recorded in two of the hospital’s wards, mostly related to on-site transmission.
Personnel in high visibility outside the hospital.
A statement from the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Board of Health said: “The Board of Health is taking a number of urgent and significant actions to ensure the safety of our staff, patients and communities.”
The hospital said the emergency department will remain open for walk-ins and for those who can be treated in the outpatient department.
Welsh Ambulance Service patients (999), excluding children, will be diverted to other sites.
Paul Mears, executive director of the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Board of Health, said the measures include “immediate closure of affected rooms, risk assessments of affected and at-risk rooms, reviews of prevention and control measures of infections and their implementation, increased testing of health care staff and testing of all hospital admissions. “
The 12 areas of Wales under local lockdown restrictions are County Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Swansea, the town of Llanelli, Neath Port Talbot, the Vale of Glamorgan and Torfaen.
Starting Thursday at 6pm, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy and Wrexham, all in North Wales, will also join the list of areas under local lockdown.
On Tuesday, Public Health Wales said three other people had died with coronavirus in Wales, with 366 people testing positive.
As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, a further 7,143 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases had been recorded in the UK, the highest daily figure on record since the outbreak began, although far more tests are underway than in the spring.
Another 71 people died within 28 days of testing positive, bringing the UK total to 42,072.
