Plan to double Covid-19 tests ‘needs more detail’
TESTING capacity is to rise from 5,000 to 10,000 tests a day, Health Minister Vaughan Gething announced yesterday as part of the nation’s new “test, trace and protect” strategy to help “lead Wales out of the pandemic”.
The plan includes increasing the amount of tests key workers, a new home testing system for the public if they have symptoms, and a new app to track symptoms in the population and contact others who have symptoms or have tested positive.
Revealing that as many as 20,000 tests a day could eventually be required, Mr Gething told the Senedd: “We have to learn to live with the virus that is circulating in our communities for many months to come.
“Adopting this approach is a way in which people can be told quickly of their exposure to the virus so that they, in turn, can limit their exposure to others. This will help us to prevent infection and track the virus as lockdown restrictions are eased.”
The strategy says a 1,000-strong workforce will be needed, mostly from local authorities and health boards, to carry out effective contact tracing. The aim is to have these measures in place by Sunday, May 31.
But Plaid Cymru Shadow Health Minister Rhun ap Iorweth called for more detail.
“It’s good to see a pledge to double daily capacity, but that’s a given, and we were meant to be at that level already,” he said, adding: “We can’t start thinking of significantly lifting lockdown restrictions before we have a robust test and trace plan, and I don’t think this can be described as anything like a robust, comprehensive or detailed plan – it’s merely a statement of principle.
It came as:
■ Public Health Wales said a total of 1,154 people have now died after testing positive for coronavirus, an
increase of 22 on Tuesday’s figures;
■ A further 133 positive tests brought the total number of cases to 11,706;
■ First Minister Mark Drakeford said he hoped to publish his lockdown exit plan tomorrow; and
■ Economy Minister Ken Skates said Wales would “build back better” after the coronavirus pandemic to focus on a fairer and greener society.
At the Welsh Government’s daily press briefing, Mr Skates said while it was too early to begin easing restrictions, he would be consulting with partners in business and trade unions to help bring in his vision of a country that “travels less and works smarter” for Wales’ future out of lockdown.
He said: “This is part of our determined efforts to build back better. To create a fairer, better economy, a greener economy, a fairer and more equal and responsible society. A country in which wellbeing of people today and tomorrow and of our environment are our top priority.”
Mr Skates said there would be a focus on “locking in generational changes” experienced in recent weeks, which could see more people working from home from now on to reduce the amount of non-essential journeys.
But he said the call in England to avoid public transport was “certainly not our message here in Wales”, pointing to the fact one in five people do not own a car and also the difficulties it would cause for future decarbonisation plans.
He said due to two-metre social distancing regulations, capacity on trains was expected to fall to just 15% of pre-outbreak levels, and that plans to manage demand on public transport in the coming months could include prioritising it for key workers.
To “complement” the Government’s action on fairness, Mr Skates said none of its £500m Economic Resilience Fund, set up to offer financial support to help businesses,
charities and social enterprises, would be granted to businesses registered in tax havens, an act he said should be replicated across the UK.
“It’s right that when you face a crisis, and you’ve spent so much money in addressing the economic and health implications of that crisis, that businesses that don’t pay tax should not benefit from the interventions that Government is making,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Drakeford told Members of the Senedd Wales’ “road map” for exiting the coronavirus lockdown was “still being worked on” and needed to be “readily understood by the readership of the Welsh public”.
He was answering questions from Conservative MS Paul Davies, leader of the opposition, on whether scientific advice underpinning the road map would be published by the Welsh Government.
Mr Drakeford told a session of the plenary: “I’m very glad that we are publishing the scientific and technical advice.
“I agree entirely with Paul Davies that it’s important that the public is able to see the underpinning evidence that we draw on in making these challenging decisions.
“My hope is that we will be able to make our plan for exit, as he called it, public on Friday of this week.
“It is being worked on still. I want it to be clear and I want it to be capable of being readily understood by the readership of the Welsh public.
“So, that is my ambition – that we will publish it on Friday and do it in a way that does the job that Paul Davies referred to: helping our fellow citizens in Wales to be clear about the plans of the Welsh Government and to understand the basis on which they are being drawn up.”
Mr Drakeford was also questioned about the “confusion” surrounding the lockdown regulations in Wales.
“Here in Wales, we are encouraging people to stay home,” Mr Drakeford said.
“That is the best way in which we can help one another to overcome this crisis. That’s why we’re all making the sacrifices that we are.
“But people are allowed now to leave their homes more than once a day for exercise, and if your way of taking exercise is to walk from your home to a river and to sit there, not near other people, and to go fishing then that is allowed within the rules in Wales.
“But it must be local and it must be done in a way that observes social distancing.”
He added: “The question that people in Wales need to ask themselves is: is my journey away from my own front door necessary?
“If it’s necessary, then you’re allowed to do it within the terms of our regulations.
“But the best advice to us all is to minimise the amount of contact we have with other people, because that way, the circulation of the virus can be suppressed and we can all go on providing to the safety of ourselves and to the safety of others.”
Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government believed in a “four-nation” approach in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
“We think we’ve still got a fournation approach because all four parts of the UK are moving in the same direction in the same careful and cautious way,” he added.