Here are the coronavirus morning headlines for Saturday, October 16, as thousands of Welsh people receive false negative test results after errors at private lab.
Around 4,000 Welsh residents are among the 43,000 people who may have been given incorrect negative Covid test results due to errors at a private lab, it has been confirmed.
NHS Test and Trace has suspended operations at a laboratory in Wolverhampton following an investigation into reports of people receiving negative PCR test results after they have previously tested positive on a lateral flow.
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The errors relate to test results given to people between September 8 and October 12. It mainly involves residents in the south west of England but the Welsh Government has now confirmed it does affect thousands of people tested in Wales.
The mistake could mean tens of thousands of people in Wales and England infected with Covid were wrongly told to stop isolating and may have infected others.
On Friday morning health minister Eluned Morgan said the Welsh Government was made aware last week of reports that a "higher than expected" number of positive lateral flow tests were resulting in negative PCR tests and that this was being investigated by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
"Health boards also highlighted cases from a number of areas of south Wales that may have been affected that we have been reviewing with Public Health Wales, linking into the work being led by the UKHSA," she said.
"As a result of these investigations UK NHS Tests and Trace has suspended testing operations provided by a laboratory in England but affects some residents in Wales. This involves technical issues at the laboratory that has led to some people being given incorrect results between September 8 and October 12. We have been informed this issue is isolated to this laboratory and does not involve the wider network including the IP5 laboratory in Newport that processes the majority of Welsh samples.
"UKHSA have looked into the number of tests from Welsh residents processed at the affected laboratory and estimate around 4,000 people may have been given inaccurate results. We assess the majority of these tests will have been taken at testing sites across the Gwent and Cwm Taf Morgannwg areas."
Baroness Morgan added that anyone who had a test from October 4 and received a result from the affected laboratory will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace by text message or email and advised if it was negative to book an appointment to be re-tested.
She said: "It will also advise that their close contacts who are symptomatic book a test. People who had a test processed at the laboratory between September 8 and October 4 will also be contacted and advised to get a test if they have symptoms. Our advice to everyone remains that if you have symptoms to self-isolate immediately and book a PCR test.
"My immediate concern is the information and support for the Welsh residents impacted and I have asked Public Health Wales to provide additional support and advice to the affected health boards in addition to the UKHSA communications. They will also be assessing the potential impact of this incident on the case rates and epidemiology reports for Wales."
How new English travel rules affect Wales
Fully vaccinated people arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper and quicker lateral flow test rather than the PCR version from October 24, it has been announced.
The change to the post-arrival day two test will come into effect for those returning from half-term breaks though the Welsh Government are still considering whether to introduce the same changes in Wales.
Mark Drakeford has raised concerns about the change to testing several times and said "all options" are being considered.
The First Minister has accused by the UK Government of risking the health of the country by scrapping the day two PCR tests. Read why here.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said on Friday: "We are concerned about the UK Government’s approach to re-opening international travel and have long called for a genuine four nations approach to decisions.
"We are still waiting for information from the UK Government on how this lateral flow test system will operate, what standards will be put in place for private testing companies and how new variants of coronavirus will be identified if they come into the UK."
The statement added: "We are considering the options for Wales."
In England passengers will have to upload a photo of their test and booking reference supplied by the private provider to verify results as soon as possible with free confirmatory NHS PCR tests for any positive cases.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said eligible travellers will be able to order lateral flow tests from private testing providers, with a list of approved private providers going live on GOV.UK on October 22.
Not true that most people who died with Covid would have died anyway, according to the ONS
New data shows that most people who died of Covid would likely not have died in the near future, according to latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Mortality displacement is a phenomenon by which a period of high mortality can be followed by below-average mortality. It occurs when vulnerable people, such as older people and those who already had medical conditions, die sooner than expected. Therefore, these individuals are not dying in the following days, weeks, or months, where they would likely have died, potentially leading to a lower-than-average period of mortality.
The data showed that to date there has been some mortality displacement occurring, mainly since March 2021, however this was not enough to counter the high number of deaths seen in 2020 and 2021.
When you compare the amount of deaths (any cause) between March 2020 and July 2, 2021 with the average for the previous five years there have been almost 4,000 extra over the pandemic.
There have also been over 1,000 more deaths in care homes over the period of the pandemic compared to the average from previous years with 9,732 deaths compared to 8,564.
Full analysis of the latest data can be found here.
Latest infection rates for Wales
Fifteen more people have died with coronavirus in Wales according to latest figures from Public Health Wales (PHW).
The data published on Friday, October 15, also revealed there were 3,130 new positive cases bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 392,282. The 15 additional deaths recorded brings the overall toll within 28 days of a positive Covid test to 6,005 in Wales.
The latest seven-day infection rate across Wales based on the cases for every 100,000 people (seven days up to October 10) now stands at 531.7 – a very slight drop on the 531.9 reported on Thursday. The figures announced on Friday are for the 24-hour period up to 9am on October 14 according to PHW.
The local authority with the highest infection rate in Wales is now Torfaen with 709.9 cases per 100,000 population over seven days followed by Cardiff with 705.4 and Vale of Glamorgan with 696.9.
The areas of Wales with the highest Covid rates
There are now 16 areas of Wales that have Covid infection rates of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.
The latest Covid data published by Public Health Wales (PHW) shows that the amount of places with more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 has increased from 12 areas to 16 in a week.
This data was first released on Friday, October 15. It provides the numbers for areas with an average of 7,000 people, called middle super output areas (MSOA). In practice this means there are statistics for areas like Canton in Cardiff, Morriston in Swansea, and Porth in Rhondda.
The data shows there are 16 places in Wales with more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 of population and 30 where the figure exceeds 900.Areas in Flintshire, Powys, Caerphilly and Newport are among those currently worst affected. Find out the infection rate where you live and how it compares with our interactive map here.
US to lift restrictions for vaccinated foreign travellers
The White House will lift Covid-19 travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting on November 8, ending restrictions that had barred much of the world from entering the United States for as long as 21 months.
US allies had heavily lobbied the Biden administration to lift the rules. Many praised Friday's announcement including Sweden's ambassador to the United States Karin Olofsdotter, who called it "very welcoming news."
White House spokesman Kevin Munoz confirmed the date on Twitter, adding the policy "is guided by public health, stringent, and consistent."
Restrictions on non-US citizens were first imposed on air travellers from China in January 2020 by then-President Donald Trump and then extended to dozens of other countries, without any clear metrics for how and when to lift them.
Curbs on non-essential travellers at land borders with Mexico and Canada have been in place since March 2020 to address the pandemic.
More than 1,400 firms collapsed last month in England and Wales
The number of businesses that registered as insolvent last month was the highest since the pandemic began, UK Government figures show.
According to data from the Insolvency Service there were 1,446 company insolvencies across England and Wales in September – up from 1,349 in August and 928 from the same time last year.
The figures come after the Bank of England warned last week that higher borrowing during the pandemic had likely put more businesses at risk.
"The increase in debt – though moderate in aggregate – has likely led to increases in the number and scale of more vulnerable businesses," it said.
"As the economy recovers and Government support, including restrictions on winding up orders, falls away, business insolvencies are expected to increase from historically low levels."
In a statement to the BBC an HM Treasury spokesperson said the Government was backing businesses with £400bn of support.
"It's working – two million fewer people are now expected to be out of work than previously feared and the number of redundancies remains near a seven-year low," they said.
"We're also unlocking investment through the £20bn a year super-deduction, the biggest two-year business tax cut in modern British history, while £650bn of private and public infrastructure investment will support 425,000 jobs over the next four years."
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