HYWEL Dda University health board is appealing for public support as its hospitals are operating under extreme pressure across Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. Health officials say that while high levels of activity are usual in the winter, this year presents the extra challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, including a shortage of clinical staff. The health board has responded to outbreaks of the virus in all of its acute general hospitals, resulting in closures of some wards in all acute hospitals in the Hywel Dda area during the past month. Meanwhile, the health board has announced the transfer of all patients being treated at Llandovery Community Hospital, to Amman Valley Hospital, in Glanamman, near Ammanford, due to a number of staff, including nurses, at the two hospitals self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19.