A POLITICIAN has voiced her concern following an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Public Health Wales figures released on Friday, September 25 show nine new cases reported in Conwy; nine in Denbighshire; 16 in Flintshire; three in Gwynedd and eight in Wrexham.

Janet Finch-Saunders. MS for Aberconwy, is calling on the Welsh Government to facilitate with test availability so as to support proposals for hyper-local lockdowns. The MS would like to see a data-led hyper-local lockdown approach.

She said: "I am deeply concerned by this latest uptick in Coronavirus cases across North Wales, with rates of infection within several local authorities being deemed a cause for concern.

"As further restrictions now appear inevitable, I am calling on the Welsh Government to urgently improve test availability across the region so that this data may allow for the consideration of hyper-local lockdowns.

"It is essential that measures taken to protect the public are proportional to the risk.

"Consideration must be given to the idea of hyper-local restrictions to ensure that as little of North Wales economy is closed as possible throughout the tough winter trading months."

Ms Finch-Saunders has written to Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething to petition for a change to the online booking system.

"This included proposals to make all slots at Welsh health board administered sites available for booking at the start of the day." she said.

“We cannot compound this public health crisis with further economic damage, which threatens jobs and livelihoods. A data-led, hyper-local approach is the most sensible as this also gives due consideration to the impact of potential restrictions on mental health and social well-being.”

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: "Slots on the UK Government booking portal are made available in mornings and lunchtime.

"Local health boards all have local access arrangements for their testing sites.

"We also have mobile testing units and other community testing units to give priority to testing people in areas where there are outbreaks and incidents."