A spokesperson from Cardiff and Vale Test Track Protect has provided an explanation for Penarth entering the top ten worst affected areas in Wales for COVID-19 infection rates, implying that care home or "closed setting" outbreaks are responsible.

They also suggested that the spike is only relative to low case rates in the population at large.

Nub News today reported that according to the latest "seven day total" case statistics (taken between 28 January and 3 February), 38 people in the town had taken positive COVID-19 tests.

This means 361 per 100,000 people tested positive during that period, and that only nine other of the 410 MSOAs (middle layer super output areas) reported higher rates.

This figure does not include those reported in the peripheral areas of Llandough & Cogan, Dinas Powys and Lower Penarth & Sully, which are all considered separate MSOAs.

Responding to a Nub News request for comment, a spokesperson for the Cardiff and Vale Test, Trace, Protect service said: "We are continuing to see cases and incidents in care homes and other closed settings across the Vale.

"As the number of cases of COVID-19 in the community declines, individual incidents can have a significant impact on case rates. As the vaccination programme continues in the Vale, we expect to see the number of such incidents fall."

This suggests that a low number of outbreaks (perhaps one) within "closed settings" are responsible for the spike, as opposed to evidencing high infection rates among the broader population.

Nub News is currently investigating where such an outbreak may have taken place.