FOUR new cases of coronavirus have been reported across North Wales, health chiefs have said.

Public Health Wales confirmed on Thursday (July 9) that 16 new cases of the virus have been reported across Wales.

In the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Area, four new cases were recorded - two in Gwynedd and one each in Conwy and Flintshire.

There were no new cases recorded in either Anglesey or Wrexham where there have been recent outbreaks associated with meat processing plants.

Wrexham has the most cumulative cases with 871 people testing positive since the start of the pandemic. There have been 524 cases in total in Flintshire.

There were no new cases reported in Denbighshire.

So far, 153,351 people have undergone coronavirus tests in Wales. Of these, 137,422 were negative.

Two more deaths were reported in Wales as a whole.

To date, the total number of people in Wales who have died after testing positive for coronavirus and thus recorded as suspected Covid-19 deaths is 1,540.

Dr Robin Howe, Incident Director for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said here had been a “modest increase” associated with Rowan Foods in Wrexham since Friday. He added that production at 2 Sisters, which was closed by the company when the outbreak was identified, is now operating again.

He said: “The outbreak of Coronavirus associated with Rowan Foods Ltd in Wrexham has recorded a modest increase of 13 confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection since Friday last week. This brings the total number of positive cases in the outbreak to 302. This is in line with what we would expect to see from a focused testing process.

“The multi-agency team managing the outbreak of Coronavirus associated with the 2 Sisters meat processing plant has reported consistently good news for a number of days and operations have resumed at the site. 

“The Food Standards Agency advise that it is very unlikely that you can catch coronavirus from food. Coronavirus is a respiratory illness.  It is not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging.

The cluster in Merthyrat, again at a meat processing plant, has not been declared an outbreak.

Dr Howe said: “Following the Incident Management Team meeting on Wednesday 8 July, we have recorded a small number of additional positive cases identified at the Kepak Merthyr meat processing plant, with the total now standing at 138 positive cases since April. 

“This is not unexpected - focused testing as part of the management of clusters and outbreaks of Coronavirus will inevitably identify new cases, but this does not mean that there has been a significant increase in the level of infection in the community. 

“If we look at other data such as hospital admissions or bio surveillance indicators, there is no evidence of a surge of infections in the wider community in Merthyr. 

“It is too early to draw precise conclusions, but our monitoring does show a historic correlation between levels of infection in the plant and previous background levels of infection in the wider community. There is no evidence to suggest any ongoing transmission in the plant.

“The Incident Management Team’s investigations are continuing. No outbreak has been declared but all necessary investigations and control measures are being undertaken.”