Covid cases caught in Welsh hospitals falls last week

Public Health Wales has announced that, of the 16,016 cases confirmed in Wales in the week up to January 16, 15,595 (97 per cent) were community onset cases - when the infection was not caught in hospital.

160 were determined to have been definite hospital onset - when the patient is believed  to have caught Covid-19 in hospital - while 55 were probable hospital onset cases.

This means the total number of definite or probable hospital onset cases has fallen from 261 in the week ending January 9 to 215 in the week to January 16.

This figure, for the week ending January 9, was previously reported as 260, but Public Health Wales have since clarified the figure.

“Due to ongoing data cleaning to improve data quality and linkage, some previously reported numbers are subject to change,” said a Public Health Wales spokesperson.

The number of probable and definite hospital onset cases of coronavirus for Wales and Gwent. Source: Public Health Wales.

The number of probable or definite hospital onset cases in Gwent has also fallen in the past week, from 29 down to 22.

Fiftenn of the 3,243 cases in Gwent last week were determined as definite hospital onset, while seven were though to be probably hospital onset cases.

A total of 569 people tested positive either prior to (415) or on (154) admission to hospital across Wales last week.

This means there was a slight rise in people who tested positive for Covid prior to or on admission to hospital to 540 in the week ending January 9.

This figure had been 543 to the week ending January 9. It had previously been reported that 540 people tested positive on or before admission, but Public Health Wales have clarified the figure.

This latest figure is the highest it has been since the week ending January 31 last year - in which 583 tested positive for Covid prior to or on admission to hospital.

The number of patients who tested positive on or before admission to hospital in Wales and Gwent. Source: Public Health Wales.

In total, 5,726 people were admitted to hospital wards in Wales – for any reason – while 1,242 people were admitted to hospital in Gwent.

Of these, 107 were known to have tested positive prior to admission, while a further 28 tested positive on admission in the week up to January 16.

This means that 135 people tested positive on or prior to admission – up from 134 in the previous week.

This is the highest number in Gwent since the week ending November 14 last year, in which 136 people tested positive either before or on admission.

1,029 people were admitted to critical care wards in Wales in the week to January 16, with 10 known to have tested positive beforehand, and a further five testing positive on admission.