Coronavirus: Rise in patients infected at north Wales' hospitals

Numbers of patients infected with coronavirus while in hospital in north Wales have risen for the fourth successive week.

Figures for the week ending 26 July show 42 of the 47 probable or definite hospital infections in Wales were in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board area.

Hospital infections for the rest of Wales have been in decline.

The health board said from Monday it was encouraging people at all its sites to wear face masks.

Public Health Wales's (PHW) has started publishing figures for infections of patients while in hospital on its dashboard

It records "probable" and "definite" infections, based on patients being tested more than a week after being admitted to hospital.

Officials have said rates have "come down considerably" in Wales since the peak, by more than 90%.

But Betsi Cadwaladr has shown a rise.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Gill Harris, the health board's executive director of nursing and midwifery said there were currently 59 confirmed Covid-19 cases at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Wrexham has seen a spike in cases and has the highest recorded number of cases per 100,000 population in Wales.

The health board did not say how many of the 59 Covid-19 patients currently at Wrexham Maelor had been infected while they were in hospital.

PHW figures show the health board had 79% of all of Wales's hospital infections between 29 June and 26 July.

There were 93 probable or definite infections in hospitals in the health board area in the four weeks from 29 June.

On the week ending 5 July there were five cases at the health board's hospitals, that increased to 15 the following week, then to 31 the week after before reaching 42 for the most recent week with figures available.

Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd has raised concerns that staff at Wrexham Maelor who had been working on Covid-19 wards were not tested before returning to other wards.

Citing the claim, first raised by local Plaid councillors with the health board on 30 July, Mr Gruffydd said: "It seems a safety first approach has been slow in being adopted, despite the Maelor being the focus for the rise in cases in Wales over the past week or two."

In a response to the councillors' letter, seen by the BBC, the health board said routine screening was not in place for staff as PHW guidance states they should be tested when they show symptoms of Covid-19, adding that all staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE).

The health board has been asked to comment.