Virus hotspots could see local lockdown areas
WALES could place lockdowns on certain parts of the country if hotspots of coronavirus are found, the First Minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said he would not rule out “precise, localised” restrictions on the public if a new contact-tracing system showed spikes of transmissions, despite Wales’ finance minister saying doing so would cause “confusion”.
Yesterday Public Health Wales said a further seven people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of deaths to 1,354 though the true number is known to be above 2,000.
Another 67 people also tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 14,121.
A contact-tracing system was also launched across Wales as lockdown measures were eased, which means anyone who has a positive test result will be contacted by a team of tracers and asked for details of everyone they had close contact with while they had symptoms.
Mr Drakeford was asked about localised lockdowns at Welsh Government’s daily press briefing, to which he said ministers “definitely haven’t ruled out” doing so.
He said: “I’ve referred to identifying hotspots, and if there are hotspots and the best answer is to take particular measures in that area then that is what we will do.
“And that would be a very ordinary response to a public health problem, that you take the action in the place where the problem comes to the surface.”
On Wednesday finance minister Rebecca Evans said local lockdowns were not being considered by the Government after being questioned about a recent spike in cases in North Wales.
Ms Evans said: “At the moment we’re not considering differential lockdowns across different parts of Wales, and part of that is because I think that one of the strengths of the message is it’s a very clear message that applies to everybody equally across Wales.
“And I think that if you do look for differential lockdowns or lockdowns in small areas, then there is the potential for a great deal of confusion.”
Mr Drakeford also ruled out any other sports currently restricted in Wales being allowed until the next review of measures in three weeks’ time, but said there were people who could make “a good case” for why non-team sports like tennis should be made an exception.
He added: “What I have to explain to them is their exception would be met by somebody else’s exception.
“And by the time you’ve added all these exceptions up, the risk is considerably bigger than it would be otherwise.”
Meanwhile, the
First
Minister said the nation’s more cautious approach to easing lockdown will benefit the Welsh economy and help safeguard Welsh jobs in the long term.
With England on Monday sending children back to school and allowing people to drive as far as they want, Wales has given no date for a school return, and has set a fivemile “general rule” for people from a maximum of two households meeting outdoors.
The crisis has already hit Wales hard economically with a higher percentage of Welsh workers on the furlough scheme than anywhere else in the UK.
Ms Evans last week said the nation is heading for a “really tough time” in a post-coronavirus recession, and critics think the slow lifting of restrictions will make it even worse.
Addressing the issue, Mr Drakeford said: “We always think about the health and the economic impact of the decisions we make together.
“This is an economic crisis as well as a health crisis but the view I have taken, and it is the view many, many economists take, is that by doing the right thing by people’s health you are doing the right thing by the economy.
“It is better from the economy’s perspective, difficult as it is, to have a gradual move out of lockdown, but one where you can reliably build from each three week cycle to the next. [To] do it in a way that minimises the risk that there will be a second peak of the virus and the whole economy will have to go back into lockdown because there will be an even more difficult set of economic conditions than a more cautious, gradual lifting of the restrictions.
“So I have been in the position that many of the economists have argued that what is right for people’s health is, in the end, good for the economy.
“When we think of the economy over time, because the economic impact in Wales of the coronavirus will be very real [and] is very real already in many sectors like the tourism industry.”
The economic impact is likely to hit young people the hardest.
The First Minister was asked if there were plans for young people, who are less at risk from the virus, to go back first.
He said that this would be like asking young people to “go over the top first” and that “hundreds would die”.
“I think you can make a theoretical case for it,” he said. “There was a paper earlier in this process by Warwick University that modelled what that would mean for young people.
“Even though young people are less susceptible to the virus and less susceptible to its more difficult impacts, that paper showed that if you put young people back into the workplace before other people, hundreds more young people would die.
“On the one hand you could say to people that you are offering them an opportunity but on the other hand you could say that you are asking them to go over the top first. “
As well as reporting its latest figure for deaths with coronavirus, Public Health Wales (PHW) also reported 59 more people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 following lab tests to take the total since the outbreak began to 14,054.
Seven local authorities reported no new cases of the virus on Monday, including Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Newport, Anglesey, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys, while Rhondda Cynon Taf had the most cases in Wales with 14.
The number of tests carried out on Sunday was 2,945, still well below Wales’ capacity of more than 9,000.
The figures came as a contact tracing system was rolled out across Wales, and also as lockdown measures were eased, allowing people from two households to meet outdoors, albeit under a strict set of conditions .
From now, anyone who has a positive coronavirus test result will be contacted by a team of tracers and asked for details of everyone they had close contact with while they had symptoms.
Mr Drakeford stressed that while the contact tracing system is tried and tested, it will only be successful if the public supports it.
“All the contacts [of positive patients] will be followed up and they will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days as a precaution to prevent the virus spreading further,” he said.
“Our contact tracing system in Wales will be supported by our own digital systems, which will come online from June 8 and will allow people to provide details of their close contacts electronically.
“We will also be using the NHS X Covid-19 app when it becomes available.”
The First Minister said a contact is defined as someone who has:
been within one metre