PUBLIC Health Wales has confirmed that one more case of the South African variant of coronavirus in Wales has been linked to international travel.

One more case on Anglesey has, following a multi-agency investigation, been linked to travel from outside Wales, meaning there are now a confirmed 11 cases of the South African variant of coronavirus in Wales that have been linked to international travel.

Despite those figures, the Welsh Government has not declared an outbreak of the new variant in the country.

The remaining two cases in Wales which were revealed during a press conference on Wednesday by health minister Vaughan Gething are still under investigation in Neath Port Talbot and in Conwy – both of which have not been linked to international travel. Both people who contracted the variant are now recovering.

The locations of the initial ten Welsh cases of the variant have not been revealed.

Dr Eleri Davies, Incident Director for PHW, said: “The identification of these cases demonstrates that well-established processes under the test and trace strategy are proving to be effective.

“Public Health Wales is working in close partnership with the Welsh Government, local health boards and local authorities to investigate these two cases, and to find out where the virus was acquired, and if any onward transmission has occurred.

“It is too early to tell what is happening in terms of transmission, but as the health minister indicated yesterday this is a small number of cases, and there is no evidence at the moment that sustained community transmission has occurred.

“There is no evidence that the South African variant causes more serious illness.  There is some evidence that it can spread more easily, and that vaccines - although still effective - may not work quite as well against it.

“Because of the emergence of new more transmissible variants, it is even more vital that we all keep to the lockdown restrictions and do not meet other people."

In a press conference on Wednesday health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed the news of the new South African variant in Wales, saying: "The South African variant is one of three new variants. The other two are from Brazil. The new variants are more contagious than the previous ones.”

He explained how the suspension of travel corridors means anyone coming into Wales need to quarantine for 10 days along with their household and he further explained the procedure being taken to identify the source of the transmission in Wales.