Public health chiefs issue fresh statement over concert cancelled by 'flu outbreak'
Health chiefs have released a fresh statement, after a concert was cancelled at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, on Wednesday evening. Public Health Wales has insisted it did not advise or ask the festival to cancel the concert.
It comes after a number of children were taken to hospital with "flu-like symptoms" and an "extraordinary medical incident was declared by the Welsh Ambulance Service.
Sir Karl Jenkins was scheduled to take centre stage and conduct One World, live. It was billed as a concert that "brings together voices from around the globe to celebrate peace, harmony, and the universal language of music." It is the first time in the Eisteddfod's history it has had to cancel an event in this way.
Following the outbreak, yesterday (Thursday)Dr Giri Shankar, Director of Health Protection for Public Health Wales, said they were assessed in hospital and were due to be discharged.
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"Tests carried out on these children have indicated the presence of common respiratory viruses, including flu. They are being treated appropriately and are recovering. The risk to the public remains low'.
In a further update today (Friday) a PHW spokesperson said: "Public Health Wales was contacted by the Eisteddfod organisers on the afternoon of Wednesday 9th July, and we advised them to get medical help for the children who were unwell. We would like to clarify that at no time did we ask or advise them to cancel their concert."
The Llangollen International Eisteddfod issued two statements on Wednesday evening as the emergency unfolded. The first said: "Due to an extraordinary medical incident - tonight's event has been cancelled.
"We want to thank our own medical teams who are managing the extraordinary medical incident. We are working with the Ambulance services and medical teams managing the incident giving them the support necessary.
"The Llangollen International Eisteddfod intends to run as normal from 9am tomorrow, but this will be based on the expert medical advice we receive. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
(Image: IAN COOPER/NORTH WALES LIVE)
Another statement was released by the festival later, which gave more details and also confirming the site was clear to reopen by 9am yesterday.
It said: "Further to the previous statement, we can confirm that following the declaration of an extraordinary incident by the Welsh Ambulance Service, following Public Health Wales advice - the incident related to a flu-like outbreak and related to multiple people with similar symptoms. The extraordinary incident was called by the Welsh Ambulance Service due to the number of people who presented ill at one time.
"We are pleased to report our site has been cleared to reopen tomorrow at 9am, as we continue to welcome the world to Wales. We'd like to thank our staff, medical staff and our volunteers for their swift response this evening."
A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We sent a number of resources to the event and worked closely with the event's own medical team to manage the incident, which we later declared as an 'extraordinary incident' due to the number of people presenting with symptoms.
'Liaising closely with Public Health Wales, we transported 11 people to Wrexham Maelor Hospital. The extraordinary incident was stood down just after 8.00pm.'
The Llangollen International Eisteddfod has also been asked to comment on the latest PHW statement.
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