Covid-19: Welsh Government update - BBC News
Details and reaction as NHS Wales Chief Executive Andrew Goodall gives a live televised briefing.
Stopping coronavirus from spreading in hospitals is “incredibly difficult”, the chief executive of the NHS in Wales has admitted.

There were nearly 200 cases of hospital-acquired coronavirus in the last week, Dr Andrew Goodall said.

The Cwm Taf Bro Morgannwg health board area in south Wales has been particularly badly hit, with at least 69 deaths in its hospitals.

But Dr Goodall said that even in that region, hospital-acquired cases only accounted for three per cent of the total.

“I want to be clear, this is not as simple as a failure of hand-washing or poor infection control procedures,” he said.

“This virus is highly infectious and it can be passed on in the asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic and symptomatic phases of the infection.

“It is incredibly difficult to prevent its spread in busy healthcare environments, especially with around 90 people with Covid currently admitted each day.”

There were 192 cases of probable or definite cases of hospital transmission in Wales last week, he said, around 1 in 40 of the total confirmed cases.

“Despite hospital transmissions, over 85% of our available beds do not have coronavirus patients, so care remains safe for the vast majority needing to access hospital,” Dr Goodall added.

He confirmed there were 1,275 Covid-related patients in hospital, only 9% lower than the April peak.

He added: “Our normal critical care capacity of 152 beds is full, mainly with people who do not have coronavirus – we currently have 163 people in critical care at the moment.

“We have plans to expand critical care capacity if required.”

Some 16,000 people have now been discharged from hospital after being treated for coronavirus.