The percentage of NHS staff absent due to Covid has increased since the start of December with some health boards now missing hundreds of staff.
According to data from Stats Wales showing the average percentage of NHS staff absent 0.9% of all staff groups were absent due to Covid-19 sickness as of December 20 this year with 0.3% of medical and dental staff, 1% of nursing and midwifery staff, and 1% of other staff groups absent due to Covid as of this date.
This compares to 0.7% of all staff groups being absent due to Covid as recorded on December 6 with with 0.2% of medical and dental staff, 0.7% of nursing and midwifery staff, and 0.8% of other staff groups absent due to Covid at that point.
Read more: Coronavirus infection rates, cases and deaths for all parts of Wales on Thursday, December 30
In an interview with WalesOnline on Thursday First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "We do know that we have 1% of nurses in Wales off sick directly because they themselves are suffering from coronavirus and we've got 1.1% of the nursing staff of Wales in self-isolation because they've been in contact with someone with coronavirus.
"That sounds like small percentages but small percentages of a large number means that a large number of people are not able to be in work."
NHS Wales has around 78,000 staff, making it Wales' biggest employer, meaning 2.1% of nursing staff accounts for thousands of key frontline workers.
The highest level of absence due to Covid recorded across all NHS Wales staff groups was between April 14 to 20, 2020 (2.5%).
However the average percentage of NHS staff absent due to self isolation has remained at 0.9% for all staff groups between November 22 and December 20.
A spokesman from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: "We currently have 124 staff isolating due to medical exemption, which is 0.87% of our workforce.
"We then have a further 181 staff members that are currently on a period of sickness absence due to Covid-19, which equates to 1.19% of our workforce."
On Thursday, December 30, Betsi Cadwaladr health board reported that more than 500 staff have tested positive for coronavirus in the last seven days alone.
Sue Green, executive director for workforce and organisational development, said: “We currently have in the region of 500 staff absent due to Covid-related reasons.
“The Omicron variant is circulating within our communities and our staff are a part of those communities.
“It is vital people get their booster vaccinations in addition to adhering to guidelines on social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand hygiene.
“This is not only vital to protect the most vulnerable in our communities but also to protect our health workers who need to be there to serve the public.”
A spokesman for Swansea Bay Health Board said: "We can confirm that over the last seven days we have had 329 staff self-isolating, either because of a positive Covid result or while awaiting a PCR test result, in line with Welsh Government requirements."
Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board were unable to provide figures but a spokesman said: “Winter pressures coupled with the pandemic continue to put our services under significant strain.
"Our staff are extremely fatigued from the exceptional levels of demand over a sustained period but continue to go above and beyond every day to provide high-quality patient care.
"Short-term staff sickness and the rising prevalence of Covid-19 in our communities poses a major workforce challenge.”
Hywel Dda health board said they were unable to provide figures at this time while Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board refused to supply data. Powys Teaching Health Baord has been contacted.
Mr Drakeford said that a decision to cut the isolation period in Wales to seven days from Friday, provided people test negative on lateral flow devices 24 hours apart on the sixth and seventh days of their isolation, was brought forward to try and get people in frontline roles back to work.
"Over the last week we thought that we could manage to sustain the 10 days of isolation. Unfortunately the pattern of this week has been as we had thought it would be. Omicron is established now in all parts of Wales and rapidly rising numbers of people are falling ill with it and that includes people who we rely on to drive our buses and to drive trains to collect or refuse to be serving us in supermarkets as well as people in health and social care. And we've decided to bring forward for reduction in the self-isolation period from 10 to seven days. We were going to do it on January 5 – in any case I'll be able to do it from [Friday]."
To get the latest email updates from WalesOnline click here.
