COUNCIL chiefs have postponed plans to reopen leisure facilities in the county.

Ceredigion County Council has said this morning that work to repair Plascrug Leisure Centre in Aberystwyth, Cardigan Leisure Centre and Lampeter Swimming Pool has been completed.

But due to a significant increase in coronavirus cases in the county over Christmas, it has decided to postpone plans on reopen those sites, along with other council-run leisure facilities in the county.

A Ceredigion council spokesperson said: "Due to the significant increase in the number coronavirus cases in Ceredigion over the Christmas period, the re-opening of council operated leisure facilities has been postponed.

"The number of Covid-19 cases in Ceredigion is at its highest level since the start of the pandemic at 1,760 per 100,000 of the population.

"This equates to 1,280 cases over the last 7 days with a 50.1 per cent positivity rate, which means that over 1 in 2 people tested are positive.

"Since the beginning of December, Ceredigion has had over 3,000 cases of Covid-19 bringing it to a total of 9,642 since the beginning of the pandemic.

"The significant numbers of cases is having an impact on frontline service delivery and we are asking staff to volunteer, where appropriate, to help us maintain those services over the coming weeks, in particular social care.

"The reinstatement and maintenance works at Cardigan Leisure Centre, Lampeter Swimming Pool and Plascrug Leisure Centre have now been completed, which means that all local authority facilities are in a position to re-open, when it’s safe to do so.

"The situation will be reviewed at the end of the month and the re-opening dates will dependent on the number of cases and staffing capacity.

"The council recognises that it has been a challenging and difficult period for all concerned. We look forward to welcoming Ceredigion residents back to our facilities, when it’s safe to do so and providing you with the opportunity to be physically active once again."