AMBULANCE control room staff have been told to self-isolate following several positive cases of coronavirus.

The Welsh Ambulance Service (WAS) confirmed that a number of staff who work for the emergency call centres in Llanfairfechan and Bangor recently tested positive for Covid-19.

The two control rooms, as well as Caernarfon are currently on a work-from-home policy.

Lee Brooks, Director of Operations for WAS, said the positive cases had not affected the delivery of its emergency services.

“The new strain of Covid-19 which has taken a firm foothold in North Wales means we’re seeing cases of the virus rising quickly,” he said.

“A number of colleagues in our Clinical Contact Centres in Llanfairfechan, Conwy, and Bangor, Gwynedd, have now tested positive for the virus.

“We are working closely with a range of colleagues to prevent its further spread and have used our business continuity arrangements so that service delivery can continue.

“Our service users will not have noticed any change to our service as a consequence.

“Throughout the pandemic, all of our sites have been risk assessed and we have applied guidance that is available to us, including Welsh Government guidance and broader ambulance sector guidance.

“This includes wearing face masks when social distancing cannot be maintained due to the restraints of the work environment.

“The wellbeing of all our colleagues is important to us; our ask of colleagues to pause the NHS Covid-19 app whilst at work is consistent with ambulance sector guidance alongside all the measures that have been taken to keep our sites as safe as we can.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely and our absent colleagues are very much in our thoughts.

“The public can help by only calling 999 in a genuine emergency and more broadly by sticking rigidly to the spirit of the current restrictions; stay home to protect the NHS.”