THE fact there have been so few cases of coronavirus in Ceredigion is down to the ‘heroic’ actions of people in the county.

There have been 94 cases of coronavirus in Ceredigion to date with the low numbers put down to the “heroic” work of residents, business and the county council.

Ceredigion County Council chief executive, Eifion Evans, presented a report of the authority’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic on Wednesday, 16 September.

Members of the overview and scrutiny coordinating committee raised their concerns as well as praising the hard work of all staff and residents in the county.

The move away from cash was an issue for some elderly people, Cllr Mark Strong said, and it was agreed that how the council could support them would be discussed at a future healthier communities scrutiny committee.

Another issued raised by Cllr Strong was the continued closure of play parks, particularly in Aberystwyth, with the town council under pressure to reopen.

“The town council stuck their necks out and have been very unpopular whilst securing the safety of other local residents,” he added.

Mr Evans said that the closure of the parks in the town supported the local schools’ ‘bubble’ systems and if children were then to start mixing in the park it would “mean that the bubbles were pointless.”

“I’m thankful to the town council in Aberystwyth for coming to the right decision in my opinion.”

The report outlined the ‘gold command’ structure which had been meeting weekly during lockdown to coordinate the council’s response, with five sub groups – silver command – focusing on excess deaths, contact tracing and testing, economic adjustment, school reopening and homelessness.

The excess deaths and homelessness groups have been stood down.

Work on the third phase of the response – adjustment and long term resilience – is underway.

“We know where every case within the county is, we know who they are,” said Mr Evans adding the county had fared much better than many others.

“I think the situation we are in is down to everybody who lives in Ceredigion,” he added, with committee chairman Cllr Elizabeth Evans calling it a “heroic effort.”

The authority’s contact tracing and testing system, put in place before any national system was set up, was highlighted as a success – with every positive case since April contacted – along with provision of PPE via a central hub and provisions made for those who were shielding.

Corporate manager Barry Rees acknowledged that the testing system nationally was “under strain at the moment” and said “areas of the system are slowing down as schools have reopened, we have to go through a difficult period to get that working properly.”

94 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ceredigion since the beginning of the outbreak.

The contact tracing team was at full capacity, but it was unclear if it would be adequate to deal with a large spike, he added.