Positive Welshpool cases rise to 58

There are no plans for a local lockdown of Welshpool at present, according to health chiefs who have deployed a mobile testing unit today in a bid to restrict the latest outbreak in the town.

Queues were forming from 8am this morning as residents reacted to last night’s news that Welshpool was once again facing another grapple with Covid-19.

This week’s spike means that there have now been 58 positive cases in Welshpool since the start of the pandemic, making it a Powys hotspot with only 383 recorded across the county in total. They have not revealed how many positive cases have been recorded this week in the town. Sadly 95 Powys residents have died.

This is the third known outbreak in the town, with the first sadly resulting in several deaths at the Rhallt Care Home, and the second centred on the Leighton Arches site in July.

“There is no expectation of any lockdown measures being introduced,” a spokesperson for the joint response to the outbreak told us. “There is no evidence for this being necessary at the present time.”

This could of course change should the mass testing operation based at Neuadd Maldwyn reveal a large number of positive cases this weekend, and the fact that the authorities have dispatched the mobile unit to the town shows their level of concern.

“There have been 58 positive cases in Welshpool since February 2020,” the spokesperson explained.

“The total number of cases is relatively low, but there have been periodic increases in cases so we felt that it would be helpful to offer testing locally for a period so that anyone with symptoms has the opportunity to access testing through a more local route.

“We will then review the results and take a view whether more local pop-up testing would be helpful to residents in the future.”

This morning’s testing was well organised and took about 35 minutes for drive-thrus to be tested and around an hour for the walk-ins.

The unit will remain there until Sunday afternoon.