Coronavirus: Rhondda Cynon Taf council leader 'furious' over testing capacity

A council leader was left "furious" over restrictions to Covid-19 testing capacity as Rhondda Cynon Taff struggles to avoid a local lockdown.

Andrew Morgan said a "huge effort" had to be made after learning that the area was to be limited to only 60 tests.

There are UK-wide capacity issues due to rising demands on laboratories.

The Welsh Government said it scrambled to increase testing capacity after being left in a "deeply unsatisfactory position" on Friday night.

A spokesperson said there would be sufficient tests for residents on Saturday and Sunday.

"Testing arrangements have also rapidly been put in place in the area by the health board working in partnership with the council and the Welsh Ambulance Trust," said the spokesperson.

"We are taking urgent steps to switch testing facilities to Welsh laboratories to increase capacity."

Health Minister Vaughan Gething told BBC Wales the Welsh Government found itself in a "deeply unsatisfactory position" on Friday night, as they learned the UK Government was planning to reduce capacity for all mobile testing units in Wales, down to 60 tests each a day.

"That plainly doesn't meet our needs, but also the very short notice nature in which that decision had been made without any consultation with us," he said.

Mr Gething said mobile testing units were moved into the Rhondda to enable testing on Saturday, giving "an improved position with up to 300 tests now being available each day."

He added it had been "unsettling for people who needed a test and would have been anxious they would get a test the following day."

Mr Gething said he did not want the problem to re-occur next weekend and it needed a long term fix.

The UK government has been asked for comment.

It comes as people across England told BBC News they were struggling to access coronavirus tests and being offered tests miles from their home.

The mobile testing units are new, run under the Lighthouse labs partnership between the private sector and UK and devolved governments.

Each can normally carry out around 300 tests a day - but high demand around the UK as cases have risen has meant a limit of 60 was set for each in Wales by the UK government.

A similar number was set for Northern Ireland, with just 90 testing slots available for each mobile unit in Scotland.

Mr Gething raised the "significant problem" with his Westminster counterpart Matt Hancock on Friday night and again on Saturday, urging him to increase the limit. This has now increased to more than 150.

The UK Government is now expected to raise it again to 300 on Sunday.

Latest figures from Public Health Wales on Saturday showed more than 3,120 testing episodes - the start of a six-week period when people have samples taken - began in RCT over the past week, more than 940 of these on the most recent day.

A temporary mobile testing facility has been set up, for RCT residents only, in Clydach Vale.

In addition now, the Welsh Ambulance Service - with a capacity of 300 tests a day - has sent its own mobile testing unit to the county.

Latest figures show 25 new cases in RCT reported on Saturday. This means there has been 91 cases or a case rate of 37.7 per 100,000 for the last seven days.

Daily numbers are running at numbers not seen since May.

The case rate is the fourth highest in Wales behind Caerphilly, Merthyr and Newport.

Plaid Cymru's health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth MS has called for urgent action, after warning the Welsh Government not to rely on the lighthouse labs and urged the health minister to "get a grip".

"The testing system is clearly on the verge of collapse," he said.

"The Welsh Labour Government put their faith in the UK Government when it came to testing and yet again Wales has been let down."

Following a local lockdown imposed in Caerphilly, council leaders were told this week they had just days to "get on top of" rising infections in Rhondda Cynon Taff.

Visits to RCT care homes have already been stopped, while six supermarkets have been given improvement orders after check-up visits by officials.

There have been warnings over social distancing due to small clusters around Porth, Penygraig and Tonypandy.

Residents, businesses and communities are being urged to follow the necessary rules to limit a surging number of Covid cases.