AN OUTBREAK of coronavirus at Llandough Hospital has contributed to a sharp rise in case data in recent days, the Cardiff and Vale health board has said.

In the seven days up to January 17 101 people caught coronavirus in hospital in Cardiff and the Vale - by far the highest figure in Wales for that week.

The health board has generally reported low numbers of transmission in its hospitals since the start of the pandemic, and this is the highest figure reported so far.

The health board has confirmed there have been outbreaks in University Hospital Llandough and University Hospital Wales in January, but said the sharp rise can also be attributed to high levels of community transmission.

A spokesman for the health board said: “Since mid-December 2020, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has experienced instances where patients have developed Covid-19 symptoms while early into their admission, leading to onward transmission to other patients on both the UHW and UHL sites.

“Our investigations into the causes have not identified any single cause; however, we feel that the increase is reflective of the increased community transmission observed during this same period.”

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In the seven days up to January 22 Barry Island recorded the most cases in the Vale with 28.

Llandough and Cogan recorded 21 cases, the same number as Upper Penarth.

Lower Penarth and Sully recorded 17 - the same as Dinas.

The news comes as Cardiff and the Vale’s health board have ramped up the vaccine roll-out across the region, with all 60 GP practices in the area offering coronavirus vaccines.

Cardiff and the Vale Health Board has committed to offering the first dose of the vaccine to everybody in the first four JCVI priority groups by mid-February, dependent upon supply, with every GP practice in the area dishing out vaccinations. The first four JCVI priority groups are: residents in a care home for older adults and their carers, people aged

aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers, people aged 75 and over, and people aged 70+ or clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

All people in these groups can expect to be invited to receive their first dose of the vaccination within the next few weeks. Everyone who is eligible will be contacted directly by their GP Practice or the Health Board. Provisions for those patients who are housebound are being identified.

The health board’s executive director of public health and executive lead for the mass vaccination programme, Fiona Kinghorn, said: “We are delighted to have all 60 GP practices throughout Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan on board with our Mass Vaccination programme, and would like to thank them for their enthusiasm and flexibility in contributing to our efforts.”

The health board has delivered more than 30,000 vaccinations since the start of the Mass Vaccination programme and is on target to open Barry’s centre in early February.