A Welsh health board has restricted visitors at all of its hospitals following a rise in positive Covid-19 cases.
Hywel Dda University Health Board said the decision to temporarily suspend visiting was down to transmission rates within the community and in hospitals.
Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, the counties in the health board area, each have Covid case rates above 600 per 100,000 people.
Read more: Find all of our coronavirus news here.
The health board added that visitors would be allowed with prior arrangements in some instances, such as the end of life and critical visits.
Visitors had already been banned from Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, and the health board last month announced it would postpone some routine surgeries due to the rise in cases.
Hywel Dda is the third health board to restrict visitors, following Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Cwm Taf Morgannwg.
The health board has said the situation is being reviewed at regular intervals and a further update will be made to visitor restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so.
The health board said visiting arrangements for maternity services would not be affected.
The hospitals impacted by these new measures include:
- Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth
- Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen
- Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli
- Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest
New figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) published on Wednesday, October 27, which cover the last 24-hour period, show the total number of Covid-related deaths in Wales is now 6,122.
There were also 2,582 new positive cases recorded in today's update, bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 429,731.
The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales based on the cases for every 100,000 people (for the seven days up to October 22) now stands at 699.7 – a welcome fall from the 719.9 reported on Tuesday.
As of October 25, there were 56 people in invasive ventilated beds in Wales with coronavirus, nine of these were in Hywel Dda UHB.
Get all the latest Coronavirus updates straight to your inbox for free - sign up here
