There has been a sharp rise in the amount of people catching Covid in Welsh hospitals.
Since the start of the pandemic the amount of people catching coronavirus inside healthcare settings has fluctuated, usually in relation to the amount of community transmission.
From the start of May 2021 until mid August there amount of hospital transmission has been very small. However it has now increased dramatically.
The graph shows how many people catch Covid in Welsh hospitals:
How is this broken down by health board?
At the moment, the Hywel Dda health board area, which covers west Wales, has the highest amount of hospital transmission in Wales with 38 cases in the last week. This is the highest rate within that health board's area since February.
The graph shows how the different health boards compare:
We asked Hywel Dda if a specific outbreak had triggered the spike in hospital infection or whether it was a general rise.
Mandy Rayani, director of nursing, quality and patient experience at the health board said: "We are seeing an increase in cases of Covid-19 across our communities and this will inevitably have an impact on the level of Covid-19 related activity and infection in hospital settings.
"We have strict visiting restrictions in place across our hospitals to ensure we can safely support and protect our patients while in our care. These restrictions are reviewed regularly and efforts are being made to minimise restrictions wherever possible and safe to do so.
"To ensure the safety of patients and hospital staff, we continue to encourage people visiting any of our hospitals for an appointment or to see a loved one, to carry out a lateral flow device (LFD) test at home prior to travelling to the hospital. Do not attend a hospital site as a visitor if you have any of the known Covid symptoms.
"When visiting our hospitals please wear a face mask. This will be replaced by a surgical face mask at reception or when you arrive at the ward. Please maintain social distancing and wash your hands as often as possible using soap and water and hand sanitiser. We thank everyone for your understanding at this time while we work to stop the spread of this virus.”
Why is hospital transmission so dangerous?
The virus being transmitted in hospitals is one of the most dangerous ways for it to circulate because many people in hospital already have underlying health conditions vastly increasing the chance of the disease being fatal.
The other issue comes from the fact that increased hospital infection makes it harder for the NHS to work through the enormous backlog of elective procedures because the safety measures that come with hospital transmission mean each procedure takes longer due to cleaning time.
This table shows the amount of cases caught in Welsh Welsh hospitals broken down by health board:
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