Covid Indian variant: Swansea health board urges 'caution'

A health board has urged "caution" as cases of the Indian variant of concern has risen to 28 in Wales.

Swansea Bay University Health Board said a "small" number of cases of the variant had been confirmed.

No-one has been admitted to hospital with Covid in that area for six days and Public Health Wales reported two new Covid cases there on Thursday.

But the health board reminded people to "keep socially distancing and get their Covid-19 vaccination".

People were urged "not to become complacent" after confirmed cases of the Covid Indian variant of concern more than doubled - from 11 to 25 - in less than a week, with most cases linked to international travel.

The director for public health at Swansea Bay health board, which covers Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, warned that Covid "hasn't gone away" despite the number of infections and hospital admissions remaining low.

"The risk of infection was still very real, particularly among those who haven't yet received the protection of their first vaccine dose," said Dr Keith Reid.

One Covid patient has been in critical care in the health board area over the past month.

The health board has given the Covid vaccine to 354,878 people with more than two million people across Wales having now had a jab.

The amount of Covid patients in Welsh hospitals is the lowest since the pandemic began and the number of Covid deaths in the last week is the lowest since early September.

Wales' case current weekly infection rate stands at 9.4 cases for every 100,000 people in Wales, among the lowest levels since last summer.

Another 17 cases of the India variant of concern were detected in Wales in the last week, latest official figures show.

It takes the total number of the B.1.617.2 variant to 28. Numbers of the other India variant remain the same, on 15, according to the figures published by Public Health England.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said that they were "primarily" in urban centres like Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.

Meanwhile, the number of the India variant in England jumped by another 2,111 in the latest week - to 3,424 cases - a rise of nearly 150%.

On figures up to 12 May, it was estimated that the Indian variant made up 14% of around 132 Covid cases which were sequenced in Wales.

The dominant variant is the UK Kent one, with another 138 cases detected in Wales in the last week, taking the total sequenced to 13,183.

Wales eased more Covid restrictions on Monday, with the return of indoor eating and drinking in pubs and restaurants and larger groups allowed to socialise.

Dr Reid said it is" very likely that we will see infection rates creeping up again".

"Covid thrives on close contact, particularly among those who haven't been vaccinated," he said.

"We now have a small number of confirmed cases of B.1.617.2 (the variant of concern that was first detected in India) in the Swansea Bay region, which is a worry as it looks like this variant spreads more easily.

"Our testing and tracing teams are working hard to prevent it being spread further, but people should be aware that we're not out of the woods yet, and continue to take all precautions."

In Swansea, the case rate has been under 50 cases per 100,000 for more than two months.