Rule change to aid
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has led the latest coronavirus briefing for Wales as he formally confirmed lockdown rule changes for single-parent families and people living alone.
People living alone or as part of single-parent families in Wales in the areas of Wales subject to local lockdown rules, where household mixing has until now been completely banned with extended households suspended, can now form a bubble with one other family household within their county.
These temporary bubbles will be permitted from Saturday, October 3, in a bid to cut the emotional toll of the virus. The rule of six will apply to the new bubbles.
The First Minister did not make any further changes to the national rules after the latest threeweekly review of the regulations given the current upward trend in coronavirus cases in Wales.
The latest Welsh Government update came after it was confirmed that the number of people in hospital beds with coronavirus in Wales has doubled in the last week. There are now 34 people on ICU beds in Wales with confirmed or suspected Covid-19.
The First Minister said: “This is the ninth time that I have reported the outcome of our three-weekly review of the coronavirus regulations.
“But for the first time since April we will not be making any major changes to the national regulations here in Wales.
“Over the last few weeks we have made a series of often rapid changes to the rules – including the introduction of local restrictions in local authority areas across Wales. I want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get to grips with the position in their local area. I will, however, be announcing one important change to the local restrictions and I’ll come back to that. I will explain this after giving you an overview of the situation in Wales.
“This now-familiar slide shows just how quickly and sharply cases of coronavirus have risen here since the end of August.
“This week we have seen more than 350 new cases reported every day. The last time I was here at the end of a three-week review it was less than 80.
“Sixty-six people were admitted to hospital with coronavirus on average each day last week and 21 people are being treated in intensive care – that is the highest level for three months.
“Very sadly, there has been an increase in the number of people who have died from coronavirus. After weeks and weeks of reporting falling numbers yesterday Public Health Wales reported a further six deaths across
Wales. As we have said many times – these people are not just numbers. Behind every number is a person and a family. As we see these numbers rising again I want to assure you the thoughts of the Welsh Government are with each of the families who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
“We have three main lines of defence against this rise in coronavirus.
“The first and most important line is the things each and every one of us does every day; the second line is the work of our NHS Wales Test Trace Protect service; and behind that the rules and regulations the Welsh Government introduces at a national and local level to control the spread of the virus and protect people’s health.
“I will say a little about each of these. Each one of us have a part to play in preventing the spread of coronavirus and protecting ourselves and our families from the virus.
“The rules are simple and I know well-known:
“Keep our distance from others; wash our hands often; work from home wherever possible; wear a face covering in indoor public places; think carefully about where we’re going and who we’re meeting because the more places we travel and the more people we meet, the more chances there are to catch coronavirus.
“Our next line of defence is our Test Trace Protect service.
“We carried out more than 66,500 tests in the last week of September – the second highest number on record.
“Despite the recent well-publicised problems with the Lighthouse Labs system there are positive signs the system is beginning to improve.
“We have more tests this week; we will have more again next week.
“As more people test posi- tive for cor- ona
virus our contract tracing teams are continuing to do an incredible job of identifying hot spots and clusters and tracing people.
“Three weeks ago, when I was reporting the last three-week review, our contract tracing teams were dealing with less than 250 positive cases a week generating around 750 contacts.
“In the week leading up to this review there were 1,250 cases and 4,500 contacts.
“But, despite that rise and remarkably, almost nine out of 10 contacts of people were successfully traced and contacted and I really do want to thank people in those local settings working so hard.
“Our final line of defence is the action we take as a government, at both a local and a national level, to keep Wales safe.
“Today I would normally be talking to you about how the latest changes to the coronavirus regulations are being put in place in Wales. As I said earlier we have decided not to make any major changes to the national rules.
“But we will make one important change to those local areas subject to local restrictions and we are doing this to combat loneliness and isolation.
“If you live in an area under local restrictions you cannot meet anyone indoors who you do not live with. This is especially difficult for people who live alone.
“We will change the rules to enable people who live alone – including single parents – to join up with one other household in that same area to create what we have been calling a temporary bubble. That means they can see other adults indoors while their area is under local restrictions.
“This change is part of those local area rules and we have also reviewed those rules this week.
“I want to thank everyone living in areas subject to local restrictions for their patience, their understanding and, above all, their willingness to do the right thing, to work with these additional measures, to control the spread of coronavirus.
“If we continue to work together we can protect ourselves and families, our communities, and keep Wales safe.”