Ceredigion council’s Gold Command - responsible for making decisions away from the scrutiny of councillors during the pandemic - decided to stop sending updates on Covid cases in schools to the press, the latest log of the group’s decisions reveals.

The latest batch of decisions released, covering May to the end of August this year, reveal hundreds more decisions made by Gold Command - a group that has come in for criticism and calls to disband from councillors and politicians.

Previously throughout the pandemic, Ceredigion council had issued updates to the Cambrian News on positive cases in schools so the information could be seen by the wider public.

But a Gold Command meeting on 8 July scrapped the updates.

The group decided that “the council should move away from reporting to the press on every occasion there was a positive PCR test result in schools, and instead await a press enquiry and respond accordingly".

Ceredigion council told the Cambrian News this week that “there are two reasons for not disclosing cases in schools, depending on the number of cases coming through”.

“Where cases were very low, naming schools where individuals or very small clusters had tested positive would have quickly led to questions as to the identity of individual pupils whose medical information is, of course, confidential.

“Where cases in schools across the county were high, it was not practical to report every occasion where there were positive tests.

“Where we have considered it appropriate to alert parents of children who may have been wider contacts of positive cases, we have informed them through Welsh Government’s ‘Warn and Inform’ letters.

“Where there are wider concerns, such as widespread cases within the school and the community, we have sent out alert communications with advice on being vigilant and following Covid-19 safety measures.”