03/29/2024

Wales News Online

Local & National News for Wales

Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton gives update on Coronavirus in Wales

SPEAKING from the Welsh Government building in Cathays Park the Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton, who was accompanied by the NHS Wales Chief Executive Andrew Goodall gave the latest updates for Wales.

He confirmed that 3,300 patients have been tested in Wales and that currently some 800 test are being carried out each day. Dr Atherton said that he expected the figure to rise to over a thousand next week and to over three thousand a day by end of April.

On testing Dr Atherton indicated that health care staff were being prioritised for testing and that the testing will be expanded to social care staff and then to other areas of public service.

He acknowledged that ‘this is going to be a very challenging time for our NHS. We are asking staff to work in unprecedented times’.

Dr Atherton went on to say that ‘It’s going to be hard for staff – there’s no doubt about that. But staff are stepping up magnificently to that challenge’.

He added: ‘Things are currently quiet in our hospitals but we know that there may be difficult times ahead’. He anticipated that cases and deaths will continue to rise in the coming weeks.

NHS Wales Chief Executive referred to how bed capacity in  intensive care had been increased from 156 to 290. ‘This is an unprecedented expansion of critical care capacity in such a short space of time’

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