TWENTY-FOUR people have died after a major coronavirus outbreak at a Wales hospital.

There are now 129 coronavirus cases at Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which is currently in a local lockdown.

This means the number of deaths from the deadly bug tripled in a little over a week.

The spike has been blamed on a "super-spreading event" caused by either a patient or staff member – rather than there being multiple transmissions.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board has since said "immediate measures" had been taken to stop the virus spreading.

There have been 17 cases and one death recorded at Prince Charles Hospital while 16 infections and one fatality was reported at Princess of Wales Hospital.

Medical Director Dr Nick Lyons said all of the confirmed cases linked to the outbreak had tested positive for Covid-19 within 14 days of attending one of the hospitals.

He warned: "It's too early to say we've reached the top of the curve. It's too early to draw conclusions, and the focus needs to be on making the hospital safe."

A number of measures have since been put into place including the suspension of visits in September.

A number of areas in Wales have already been hit with local lockdown measures in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

According to official Public Health Wales statistics, 360 people were known to have died with coronavirus in the Cwm Taf health board area.

Across the UK, there have been more than 42,000 deaths from coronavirus while 54,000 infections have been recorded.

Local MP Alex Davies-Jones and Member of the Senedd (MS) Mick Antoniw said the rise in the number of deaths at the Royal Glamorgan was deeply troubling.

"It is an incredibly worrying deterioration in what was already a major incident and we know that local people will share our concern," they said. 

"We are seeking urgent clarification from the health board on why this has happened and more importantly, what measures are being implemented to ensure that the outbreak is fully contained."

Meanwhile official stats today revealed Covid-19 had killed three times as many people as influenza and pneumonia combined this year.

Office for National Statistics figures show that Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death in 48,168 fatalities between January and August.

In the same time period, there were 394 deaths due to influenza while pneumonia was the cause of 13,619 fatalities.

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