Health board staff and Gwent ICUs coronavirus free for a month

The health board has confirmed that, since June 19, no patients had tested positive for coronavirus at either the Royal Gwent Hospital or Nevill Hall Hospital's intensive care units.

In more positive news for the region, it was confirmed that there had been no confirmed cases amongst members of health board staff in more than a month - since June 27.

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This shows the progress which has been made in the region.

As recently as April, A&E Consultant Dr Tim Rogerson revealed around half of his department’s workforce had tested positive since the outbreak began.

However, infections began to slow in the region, and in mid-June, Dr Ami Jones, an intensive care consultant at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny revealed that one of the hospital’s intensive care units was “completely empty.”

And on July 1, the health board confirmed there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Royal Gwent Hospital for the first time since the outbreak began.

A spokeswoman said: "Aneurin Bevan University Health Board are very pleased to confirm that since the June 27, no members of staff from the Health Board have tested positive for COVID-19 and there have been no confirmed cases of COVID in our intensive care units since June 19.

"We are immensely proud of how staff and importantly the public have responded to the pandemic. Adherence to social distancing measures, compliance to Welsh Government guidelines and the health and safety measures implemented across the Health Board have helped to reduce the number of COVID cases across Gwent.

"We would like to sincerely thank the public for the ongoing support in helping us to keep communities safe and the local NHS functional and responsive."

In the latest Public Health Wales figures, five new cases of coronavirus were identified in Gwent, but there have been no deaths from the disease in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area for 18 days in a row.