A COVID-19 spike in Wales's Rhondda Cynon Taf was not the result of last Wednesday's Doncaster pilot event where 2,500 spectators were allowed to attend, Doncaster has said, refuting the Welsh government's accusation. Wales's Health Minister Vaughan Gething indicated that a rugby club outing that made several stops–including the racecourse–caused the lockdown in Wales.
“Our contact tracing teams have been able to trace about half of these cases back to a series of clusters within the borough,” said Gething. “The rest are evidence of community transmission. There are a number of clusters within Rhondda Cynon Taf, two of which are significant. One is associated with a rugby club and a pub in the lower Rhondda. And the other with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way.”
“As a condition of running the pilot event last week, we were required to implement a full track and trace database that took the details of all attendees that would be on site, linked to an e-ticket and photo ID system on entry that would verify attendance,” Doncaster said in a statement. “Doncaster Racecourse has received no contact from any organisation, including the NHS or the Welsh Government, to verify the attendance of any individuals at last week's event for the purposes of track and trace. In addition, we do not have any ticket bookings for any groups from the South Wales area for Wednesday's event. We will be contacting the Welsh Health Minister as a matter of urgency to clarify the situation.”
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