Former Labour MP Betty Williams’ husband dies in hospital of coronavirus aged 79 despite twice testing negative
- Evan Williams, 79, tested negative twice for coronavirus before dying in hospital
- He died on Good Friday after a third Covid-19 test came back positive
- His wife is now pleading with Welsh Government to send samples to Liverpool
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
The husband of a former Labour MP has died in hospital of coronavirus – after twice testing negative.
Evan Williams, 79, had been on a general ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd at Bangor before becoming seriously ill, and moved to intensive care and placed on a ventilator.
He died on Good Friday – the day after a further test had been taken which was positive, the result arriving on the day after his death.
Last night Mrs Betty Williams, who lives near Penysarn near Caernarfon, said she was pleading with the Welsh Government to send North Wales samples to Liverpool – and not nearly 200 miles to Cardiff.
Betty Williams’s (pictured) husband, Evan Williams, 79, had been on a general ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd at Bangor before becoming seriously ill, and moved to intensive care and placed on a ventilator
‘Pull the barriers down, this is a pandemic,’ she demanded.
She said : ‘There are plans for samples to be analysed in a special laboratory at Glan Clwyd hospital – but not until the end of the month. But anything can happen in a fortnight in a fast moving pandemic.
‘I’m getting the energy to fight this although it won’t help my husband. But it might help others from North Wales.’
She said she was pleading with Julie Morgan, deputy to the Health Minister in the Welsh Government, to change the system in which it took two days to obtain sample results.
Last night Mrs Betty Williams, who lives near Penysarn near Caernarfon, said she was pleading with the Welsh Government to send North Wales samples to Liverpool – and not nearly 200 miles to Cardiff. Pictured is Ysbyty Gwynedd hospital
He died on Good Friday – the day after a further test had been taken which was positive, the result arriving on the day after his death. Stock picture
Mrs Williams said : ‘I have since found out that they lost the first sample taken, so then they took another.’
She fears staff and patients on the general ward where Mr Williams was treated for a respiratory illness could have been infected.
The Betsi Cadwaladr health board say they do not comment on individual cases.