Coronavirus cases on the rise in Caerphilly County Borough

The number of new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Caerphilly County Borough is on the rise – according to figures released by Public Health Wales.

Of the 50 new cases recorded in Wales on Wednesday (September 2), 11 of them are from the borough.

Over the last seven days, there has been 46 new confirmed cases in the borough – the second highest total in Wales behind only Cardiff, which recorded 57 new cases.

For comparison, just five new cases were reported in Newport during that time frame, with Blaenau-Gwent, Torfaen and Monmouthshire each recording just one new case over the same period.

Alarm at pubs and restaurants

Contact tracers discovered two customers who had visited the Red Kite pub in Caerphilly town who later tested positive for Covid-19.

As a result, the pub closed for a “deep clean” while staff were tested for the virus, with one staff member testing positive.

In a Facebook post, the pub said it had told Caerphilly County Borough Council’s environmental health officer and was following the “appropriate procedures”.

The pub has since reopened.

Meanwhile, the Wingfield Hotel and Sports Bar in Llanbradach had closed its doors following what it called an “isolated incident”.

All the staff at the pub were tested for Covid-19, with each test coming back negative. The pub reopened today (September 3).

The pub declined to comment further.

Due to the increase in cases in Caerphilly, Urban Bar BQ, which opened on Market Street, Caerphilly town centre earlier in the summer, has closed to customers.

The restaurant has said it will now only serve takeaways “until the current increasing wave of pandemic subsides”.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the restaurant said it’s “taking what we believe to be the safer decision”.

“This will be continually assessed each day to decide when to open our doors again.

“To be clear, we have had no Covid cases, no scares and no alerts through track and trace.”

In August, Welsh Government revealed its plans for a potential second wave of Covid-19.

As part of the plans, local or regional lockdowns could be introduced if cases of Covid-19 in a particular area spike, while the reintroduction of measures covering all of Wales could also be considered, should cases rise across the country.

Regional lockdowns could see businesses forced to close, limits on people meeting up brought back, and restrictions put in place similar to those in place at the beginning of lockdown in March.

Regional lockdowns have already been imposed in parts of England and Scotland.

Public Health Wales has been contacted for comment.