The number of cases of coronavirus at a meat processing plant in Wrexham has risen to 97, Wales' health minister has revealed.
The number of Covid-19 cases has been rising in recent days due to the heavy testing around meat processing plants in Anglesey, Wrexham and Merthyr Tydfil. The number of cases hit 100 on Sunday, which is higher than it has been for a month.
In total, there have been 97 cases diagnosed at the Rowan Foods plant in Wrexham, 200 cases have been confirmed at the 2 Sisters site in Llangefni on Angelsey and 34 cases at the Kepak plant in Merthyr Tydfil.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: "Cases of coronavirus are generally continuing to fall across Wales – we have seen fewer than 100 cases each day in the first few weeks of June.
"However, we can expect to see some increases in cases as a result of these outbreaks. These outbreaks show that we all need to continue to take coronavirus very seriously – it has not gone away."
Outbreaks in meat and food processing plants have been a feature of the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
There have been large scale outbreaks affecting thousands of people in the US, Canada and Germany.
The outbreak in Germany has affected more than 1,300 employees at a meatpacking plant and has seen lockdown restrictions being re-imposed in the local area for a week.
Mr Gething said: "These declarations follow a UK and worldwide pattern during the current global pandemic of the meat and food processing sector being susceptible to COVID-19, which has resulted in local hotspots.
"Whilst all necessary action is being taken to control and prevent the spread of the virus from person to person, I would like to emphasise that there is no evidence that coronavirus survives in food."
He added: "These outbreaks show that we all need to continue to take coronavirus very seriously – it has not gone away."
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales on Wednesday, Mr Gething said: "It is still the case that coronavirus is falling in Wales as well, but these flare ups are possible over the rest of our journey.
"The positive news is that coronavirus is still reducing in Wales. We have to act aggressively with these flare ups which is why we have tested quite so many people and we have managed to do it quickly.
"It is still going down, which is why we still have some headroom but why we are still taking a very cautious approach. The outbreak on Anglesey underscores that approach and why it is the right thing to do.
"People should follow the guidance to keep Wales safe."
Public Health Wales is chairing daily outbreak control teams and is working in partnership with the employers, local authorities, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Food Standards Agency (FSA), and Health Boards to ensure all necessary public health action is taken.
Mr Gething said: "We are making progress, but the point about all this is that coronavirus has not gone away.
"It is really important that people don't get complacent and start taking higher risk moves.
"It is because we are following the guidance that we are seeing reductions.
"I am afraid until we get a vaccine, this is far from over and the outbreaks show was does happen with coronarvirus if we do allow it back into the community or workplace."
