A Wrexham doctor has admitted that he has never seen anything like the number of positive tests being returned as cases soar.

Dr Peter Saul, GP at Beech Avenue practice in Rhos, returned to work after the Christmas weekend to find 44% of his patients' covid tests were positive.

A total of 1,282 cases of coronavirus were recorded in Wrexham during the week of December 18 - December 24, with over 34,000 cases recorded across Wales during the same time frame.

Public Health Wales confirmed there were 7,369 cases of Omicron in Wales (1,184 in North Wales) as of December 29.

First Minister Mark Drakeford brought in stricter measures from Boxing Day to combat the threat of Omicron, including capacity limits indoors and outdoors as well as bringing back the rule of six.

Dr Saul was left staggered by the number of positive tests that he examined on his return to the surgery.

He said: "Normally when you get the results of your patients sent to you, around 10% are positives and most of them are negatives.

"Two things have changed over the last few weeks, tests have shot up because more people have symptoms and are wanting to check. As well as that, there is a cold and bug going round at the minute and it is very hard to differentiate between the two.

"Out of about 67 tests I was amazed to see 44% of the tests were positive, I have never seen anything like that.

"The biggest thing with the Omicron variant is we still don't know answers to some things. Even if it is less severe than the delta by 30-70% if 20-30% more people are getting it then that is the issue.

"Most health services now have staff off isolating, which increases the pressure on public services, such as carers and social workers."

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Dr Saul believes that people are taking note of the rising cases and have started to be more aware of the new variant, adding: "People have already started changing their behaviours, with less socialising, wearing more masks etc.

"One bit of advice I would give is to go back to basics, wash your hands, wear masks when you're in doubt and maintain some form of distancing."

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