Public Health Wales dashboard data shows Flintshire had just 95 coronavirus tests in the last 5-6 days

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “today marks a sombre day” after the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the UK surpassed the 10,000.

The number of reported deaths now stands at 10,612, this figure does not include those outside of hospital settings such as care homes, for example.

Two issues are dominating the public debate around coronavirus, the supply of personal protective equipment to frontline NHS and social care workers and COVID-19 testing.

The Secretary General of the World Health Organisation urged countries to “test, test, test” for the coronavirus but Britian has been slow to react.

Plaid Cymru politicians from North Wales have written to Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething expressing “significant concerns” regarding the testing procedures and protocols in place for patients in the north.

The letter reads: “It has been over three weeks now since the World Health Organisation declared there had not been an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which they said must be central to the global response.

Not only are we still not carrying out enough tests in Wales, but we are seeing significant issues with tests and the level of testing carried out in the north of Wales specifically.

We have been made aware of many instances where possible Covid-19 patients are having to wait extensive periods of time for results to arrive after the tests are initially carried out.

One particular instance that has been brought to our attention is that of a nurse and her son in the Wrexham Maelor area waiting over 72 hours for test results to be delivered despite your assurance that tests results can be processed in 24 hours.”

“We know there is capacity here in North Wales for further testing to be done.”

Plaid Cymru AMs and MPs in north Wales have written this open letter to health Minister @vaughangething warning that #Coronavirus testing in Wales must not become subject to a postcode lottery. pic.twitter.com/a42J5RNZA0

— Plaid Cymru (@Plaid_Cymru) April 11, 2020

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, Health Minister Vaughan Gething responded saying: “It’s really important that we don’t collapse into regional fingerpointing within Wales.

I’m the health minister in a national government with the responsibility for the whole nation and that is absolutely how I’m exercising my responsibilities.

The reason why there are more tests in the southeast corner is because it is where the disease has progressed quicker.

We’re rolling out a testing regime with more centers across the whole country.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething

Mr Gething added: I was very explicit when I confirmed the new testing centers that are being rolled out there will be one in North Wales, there will be one in West Wales, and of course they’ll be one in Gwent as well which is a particular hotspot.

The geography of where you are in the country does not determine the response, you’ll get.”

It’s understood the Welsh Government is planning for 8,000 to 10,000 tests a day by mid-to-late May.

New Data

New data has been released this week on the location and results of COVID-19 testing via a Public Health Wales ‘dashboard’ system, you can view it here.

Below is an image grab showing the data position at the start of the week, taken as the dashboard was launched on Monday.

Raw data can’t be pulled from the dashboard as Public Health Wales appear to have locked out this function.

The first set of data on the dashboard gave a cumulative view, with some elements updated 7am on Monday and some for lunchtime on the Monday, so the overall time period does not specifically run from midnight to midnight for a day view.

It shows 266 tests had been carried in Flintshire or on people from Flintshire.

Screenshot of the data on Monday 6th

Below is the update numbers for today, Sunday, that shows the data correct as of 1pm yesterday.

Flintshire saw 95 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 16 tests a day.

North Wales total tests at stands at 1,803 an increase of just 483 in the past 5-6 days.

All Wales total tests at stands at 16,721 an increase of just 4,050 in the past 5-6 days.

Screenshot of data taken Sunday 12th – There are new columns and relabelling that includes ‘cases per 100k population’, and ‘testing per 100k population’.

The data indicates the following testing increases, and a tests-per-day view based on 6 days:

• Anglesey saw 41 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 7 tests a day.
• Conwy saw 78 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 13 tests a day.
• Denbighshire saw 106 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 18 tests a day.
• Gwynedd saw 67 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 11 tests a day.
• Wrexham saw 101 extra tests since the start of the data release on Monday, around 16 tests a day.

Latest update

Figures released this afternoon sadly say 18 further deaths have been reported of people who had tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 369 people.

Public Health Wales also issued their regular note, “Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is now circulating in every part of Wales. The single most important action we can all take in fighting Coronavirus is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS, and save lives.”

The daily updates also include the number of confirmed cases, with today’s update stating: “367 new cases have tested positive for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5,297, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.”

You can view the Public Health Wales dashboard data here.