‘RISK-BASED’ VIRUS TESTING FOR WALES
HEALTH Minister Vaughan Gething has announced that Wales is entering a “new phase” of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the latest daily briefing in Cardiff, he said coronavirus was no longer as prevalent in our communities as it was just a few weeks ago.
At the peak in April and May, he said some 43% of tests processed were positive but this had fallen to around 1% by early July.
The minister added that Wales had now developed an “effective testing system that stretches the length and breadth of Wales”.
“This means that if you need a test, you can get a test quickly and easily,” he said. “This testing infrastructure, our contact tracing system and support from everyone living in Wales is fundamental to successfully controlling the transmission of the virus. We need everyone who shows symptoms, no matter how mild, to get a test and follow advice to self-isolate. “This will support us to come out of lockdown, prevent a second peak and live with the disease until a vaccine or effective treatment is available.”
Mr Gething also set out the nation’s new testing strategy.
Over the past three months, the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales (PHW) have worked to build a national testing infrastructure, which ministers said meant anyone who displays symptoms can get a test “quickly and easily”.
The new strategy builds on the latest scientific evidence, the Welsh Government said, and focuses on four priority areas:
■ Contact tracing – to prevent the spread of the disease among the wider population;
■ delivering NHS services – to support the safety of staff and patients;
■ protecting vulnerable groups – to safeguard groups at greater risk of Covid-19; and
■ developing future delivery – to use surveillance and new technologies to improve understanding of the virus.
There are currently two different forms of testing in Wales – the antigen virus detection test which shows if someone currently has the virus, and the antibody test which is used to determined whether a person has been previously infected.
The new strategy also looks at the role and purpose of asymptomatic testing and determines that this will continue to be used where there is the greatest risk – such as among our older populations and health and care workers.
It has also been confirmed the weekly testing programme for care homes will continue for another four weeks, with the data on prevalence rates closely monitored.
If prevalence rates remain at the current low levels, then the testing cycle will move to fortnightly.
Mr Gething said: “This strategy sets out the way forward for testing as we emerge from lockdown, with the
prevalence of Covid-19 reducing from the peak we saw just a few weeks ago. It also makes preparations for a possible second wave of coronavirus in the autumn.
“We now have a national testing infrastructure that means anyone who needs a test can access one.
“This enables our contact tracing system to help control the transmission of the disease as lockdown measures are eased.
“Our NHS Wales Test, Trace, Protect service is fundamental to helping us to find a way to live with the disease until a vaccine or treatment is available. There are still areas where we know we need to improve and we are working hard to ensure more test results are returned within 24 hours.
“Over the weeks and months ahead, we’ll make the most of new testing technologies and be ready to seize the opportunities that these offer.”
Most recent figures show there have been 28,763 tests on care home residents, with 95.6% returning negative.
Only three residents tested positive in the past week.
Mr Gething also confirmed there had been particular issues with testing at a lab in Manchester which serves a large part of north Wales.
He said this technical issue had a “material impact” on the turnaround times of tests in Wales.
The minister confirmed the Welsh Government was looking at how to speed up testing, and would have to make some choices, including looking at staff numbers in Welsh labs.
He said more than 30,000 people had taken an antibody test, with a particular focus on healthcare and education staff.
It will also be rolled out to social care and domicilliary staff.
“We think we are going to have a ‘point-of-care’ test in the nearer future that’s been trialled in Cardiff and Vale health board area,” he said.
“It’s a lateral flow device test, which basically means you can do it on something more like a pinprick rather than the need to have someone take a syringe of bloods. It’s a much less invasive test which is easier to administer – and I think that’s really good news.”
The minister said the antibody test was telling them about how far the virus had spread and how many people had actually had it.
However, he said it still didn’t tell them how long immunity lasted and how well it protected people.
Meanwhile, with face coverings in Wales to be compulsory on all forms of public transport from July 27, Mr Gething said it was far from straightforward to apply this rule in other settings such as shops.
The issue has become contentious in recent days after the UK Government said face coverings would become mandatory in shops in England from July 24.
The Welsh Government has so far resisted such a move on this side of the border.
Mr Gething said forcing people to wear face masks in shops is difficult and challenging.
When questioned on the differing approaches yesterday, he said England was seeing difficulties and enforceability was not straightforward.
“Because of course there are a range of exemptions,” he said. “People with breathing difficulties, children as well, so actually you have got to think about a range of those different areas – and that I think is difficult and not straightforward.”
Mr Gething said if they found themselves in a situation where local lockdowns have to be introduced, they might have to introduce more mask measures.
Asked how he thought the wearing of face masks would be policed on public transport, Mr Gething said: “We expect it to be policed by the people who are undertaking the journeys themselves, by both the staff and indeed the public.”
FACE coverings will have to be worn in shops in England for the “foreseeable future” as part of the UK Government’s efforts to prevent a second wave of Covid-19.
England Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there is no end date for the requirement to wear coverings, as Boris Johnson insisted that the NHS Test and Trace operation to contain the spread of the virus is “as good as or better than” any other system in the world.
Currently, Wales has no plans to introduce mandatory face coverings in shops, but they become compulsory on public transport from July 27.
The Prime Minister was challenged about preparations for a second wave following the publication of a report commissioned by Government advisers warning that there could be 120,000 hospital deaths in a “reasonable worst-case scenario” if the disease rebounds in winter.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson is “kidding no-one” by claiming the Test and Trace operation had been a “stunning success”.
The report from the Academy of Medical Sciences, commissioned by the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, says action must be taken now to mitigate the potential for a second peak of Covid-19, including scaling up the Test and Trace system.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson said: “Our Test and Trace system is as good as or better than any other system in the world and, yes, it will play a vital part in ensuring that we do not have a second spike this winter.”
Some 144,000 people had self-isolated as a result of being contacted by NHS Test and Trace, he said.
Asked if he had read the scientists’ findings, Mr Johnson said he was “aware of the report” and claimed the Government was taking “every reasonable step” to prepare the country to cope with a possible second spike in cases.
The Prime Minister accused the Labour leader of “endlessly knocking the confidence of the people of this country” by criticising the Government’s actions.
Sir Keir said the percentage of people contacted and asked to selfisolate by NHS Test and Trace had gone down since it was launched.
“It’s perfectly possible to support track and trace and point out the problems,” he told the Prime Minister.
“Standing up every week and saying it’s a ‘stunning success’ is kidding no-one – that isn’t giving people confidence in the system.
“They would want a Prime Minister who stands up and says, ‘There are problems and this is what I’m going to do about them’ – not this rhetoric about ‘stunning success’ when it’s obviously not true.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson also committed to an “independent inquiry” into the handling of the pandemic, but said now is not the “right moment” for it.
But Downing Street was unable to give any further details about the nature of the independent inquiry when pressed on whether it will be judge-led, when it will begin or whether it will be under the 2005 Inquiries Act.
Instead, a No.10 spokesman said: “It’s an independent inquiry. I haven’t got any more detail for you on how it would work. We will set that out in due course.”
Earlier, Mr Hancock defended the move to make face coverings compulsory in England’s shops from July 24, despite resistance from some Tories.
There have also been warnings that the move will deter shoppers just as high streets are reopening with the easing of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
However, Mr Hancock insisted the wearing of face coverings in shops
and on public transport is essential to prevent the virus getting out of control again.
“People will have to wear masks in shops and on public transport and in the NHS for the foreseeable future,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“The virus exists only to multiply and, without any measures, we know that each person infects another two to three people, so we do have to have these measures in place, even though the number of cases are really low, to keep a grip on the virus.”
But the Health Secretary denied reports that he is planning to extend the requirement to offices.
“That isn’t going to happen and the reason is in offices you tend to spend a lot of time with the same people,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Where the mask benefits is from you spreading the disease to other people when you have relatively short interactions with lots of different people.”
Mr Hancock also played down reports that the Government is preparing to raise capital gains tax (CGT) as it seeks to rebuild the public finances following the collapse of economic activity during the lockdown.
Speculation that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is preparing the ground for a CGT increase – putting the cost of the outbreak on the better-off – was sparked by the disclosure that he had ordered the Office for Tax Simplification to carry out a review of the tax.
However, Mr Hancock told Sky News: “As far as I understand, there is no proposal and the Chancellor is not looking at tax changes now.
“We’ve just had the summer economic statement and apparently reviews like this are normal all of the time and not connected to any decision one way or the other.”
The Treasury said it is “standard practice” to keep all taxes under review.
A spokesman said: “There is no expectation or plans for policy changes as a result.”
Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said raising capital gains tax on home sales could prove a “difficult measure”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “You could raise substantial sums but the tricky thing there is that many people would simply not sell their home, they would stay in them for longer.
“And if you didn’t have buy-in right across the political spectrum, many people would say, ‘Actually I’m going to wait until a future government comes along and gets rid of this and then I’ll sell my home’.
“That kind of measure could be quite difficult.”
He instead advised ministers to turn their attention to council tax, which Mr Emmerson said “undervalues high-value properties”.
The fiscal expert added: “There are nice things we can do to the tax system that would improve the taxation of housing without trying to get people to be taxed on the capital gain they make on their own home, which I think would be problematic.”
COUNTRIES around the world are reimposing lockdowns and implementing new restrictions at their borders in an effort to curb a resurgence of coronavirus.
Stricter health checks have come into effect at Greece’s border with Bulgaria following an increase in tourism-related Covid-19 cases.
Starting yesterday, all incoming travellers crossing the border point are required to carry negative coronavirus test results issued in the previous 72 hours and translated into English.
The new rules have led to a drop in arrivals compared to recent days.
Residents of Australia’s secondlargest city, Melbourne, were warned yesterday to comply with lockdown regulations or face tougher restrictions.
Melbourne’s five million people and part of the city’s semi-rural surroundings are a week into a new six-week lockdown to contain a fresh outbreak there.
“The time for warnings, the time for cutting people slack, is over,” Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews said.
“Where we are is in a very serious and deadly position.”
The developments come with more than 13 million cases of coronavirus cases confirmed worldwide, and with more than 578,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The actual numbers are thought to be far higher due to reasons including limited testing.
In Serbia, which has been hit hard by a spike in infections and anti-government protests, a government crisis team expanded a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people from Belgrade to encompass the entire country.
Masks were also made mandato
ry in public spaces where there is no opportunity for 1.5 metres of distancing, such as in queues to enter shops and bus stations.
Renewed restrictions took effect in Hong Kong yesterday, with public gatherings limited to four people, restaurants restricted to takeaways after 6pm and a one-week closure for gyms, karaoke bars and selected other businesses.
Masks are mandatory on public transport for the first time, with the non-compliant being fined.
After a surge in daily infections beginning last month, Israel moved last week to reimpose restrictions, closing events spaces, live show venues, bars and clubs.
It has imposed lockdowns on areas with high infection rates, which in some cases sparked protests from residents.
Officials have warned if case numbers do not come down in the coming days, Israel will have no choice but to lock down the entire country again, as it did in the spring.
“I don’t see what other tools we have aside from a lockdown,” Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein told the Israeli news site Ynet. “Unless there is a miracle.” South Africa is already showing signs of being overwhelmed by the pandemic – an ominous outlook for the rest of the continent of 1.3 billion people.
A ban on alcohol sales and a night curfew have been reimposed this week to reduce the volume of trauma patients to hospitals that are struggling to cope with an influx of Covid-19 patients.
In Catalonia, Spain, 160,000 residents in and around the city of Lleida have been forbidden to leave their homes unless it is properly justified.
The area is closed off, with police checkpoints outside every municipality.
Bars and restaurants are only open for takeaways or delivery.
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said yesterday that the spread of the infections in the Japanese capital has escalated to levels tantamount to “issuing an alarm” and requested residents and business-owners to step up their preventative measures, while urging the government to legalise penalties for violators.
But even as new restrictions are imposed, steps were being taken to help restore a sense of normality.
On Tuesday night, Belarus Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko announced the reopening of the border with Russia and resuming the transport connection between the two countries “in the coming days”.
From yesterday, travellers arriving in Russia had to either provide coronavirus test results at the border or take a virus test within three days of arriving in the country.
Those measures replace a mandatory two-week self-isolation for those arriving in Russia.