Drakeford in fresh attack on Johnson’s leadership
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford has again attacked the lack of communication with the UK Government as he gave a briefing on the “sobering” increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalisations in Wales.
Mr Drakeford said the number of people in hospital with coronavirus had risen to 41 with four people in intensive care.
He also said that the R number in Wales was almost certainly now above one – meaning the virus is spreading exponentially again. The latest estimate, he said, was between 0.7 and 1.2.
Mr Drakeford said: “In this most difficult week, there has been no meeting offered to First Ministers of any sort. Since May 28, there has been just one brief telephone call from the Prime Minister.
“This is simply unacceptable to anyone who believes that we ought to be facing the coronavirus crisis together.
“We need a regular, reliable, rhythm of engagement: a reliable meeting even once a week would be a start. I make this argument not because we should all do the same things, but because being round the same table allows each of us to make the best decisions for the nations we represent.
“There is a vacancy at the heart of the United Kingdom, and it needs urgently to be filled, so we can talk to each other, share information, pool ideas and
demonstrate a determination that the whole of the country can face these challenges together at this most difficult time.”
Public Health Wales said yesterday that one further person has died after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing its total number since the beginning of the pandemic to 1,601.
The number of cases of Covid-19 in Wales increased by 185 on yesterday, bringing the revised confirmed total to 20,233.
As the first full day of a local lockdown began in Rhondda Cynon Taf yesterday, Mr Drakeford said Merthyr and Newport remained under close observation as their case rates remained high.
He said the Welsh Government is working with the two local authorities and public health experts.
“Across Wales as a whole the position remains complex,” he said, adding that cases overall are rising across Wales.
“A week ago, when I spoke to you last, we had passed the 20 cases per 100,000 people threshold. Today, that rate is almost 15 points higher,” he said.
Much of this is being driven by the situation in Caerphilly borough, Rhondda Cynon Taf and other hotspot areas, he added.
However, increases are occurring in most areas of Wales, he said. In some areas, there are rises in single figures; in others they are more significant and some local action has been agreed, he said.
He said the R number in Wales is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.2.
“We are confident it is now over one for Wales,” he said, adding that testing has increased to more than 9,500 people a day but the speed at which the results are being confirmed is being hampered by the problems with the UK Lighthouse Lab system.
Mr Drakeford said he’d heard some people say the current rise in coronavirus cases is “nothing to worry about”.
But, he said, Wales now has 41 people being treated for coronavirus in hospitals and four people are in intensive care.
“We have learned a lot over the last six months about coronavirus, including how to treat it. But for everything we have learned, it is still a new disease, which is very infectious and has few effective treatments,” he said.
He said what can start as a few cases, can quickly escalate in short space of time into much wider community transmission.
“It’s important to remember that this is not a one-way street. That things can better and can get worse,” he said.
Mr Drakeford said earlier in the summer the Welsh Government was worried about the situation in Wrexham, where a large outbreak was taking place at a food processing plant and another was centred on Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
“Today, cases of coronavirus in Wrexham are among the lowest in Wales,” he said.
Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government is continuing to plan and prepare for an increase in coronavirus across Wales during the autumn and winter.
“We plan for the worst but work for the best,” he said. “We do so, using the advice of experts here in Wales.”
Mr Drakeford said: “Our ability to make a difference in the weeks and months ahead depends on each and every one of us. Government can advise; government can inform; government can set rules. But only people can act on that advice.”
Asked whether Wales would consider turning its back on the UK’s testing system altogether, Mr Drakeford said: “It is not many weeks ago that I was being urged by voices in Wales to make more use of the UK system.”
He said he was asked why we were using the Welsh system when the UK system was “clearly more successful and had more capacity”.
But Mr Drakeford said it was only
three weeks ago that the Lighthouse Labs were working very well and the UK Government says it’s working urgently to fix these issues.
In the meantime, he said Wales will increase the number of tests that can be done within the Welsh system.
He said the extra capacity will be used to redirect some of the testing that would go into the lighthouse lab system to labs in
Wales.
Asked to comment on why people continue to travel long distances to testing centres, with many crossing country lines to do so, Mr Drakeford said it’s a problem with the way the Lighthouse Labs are organised.
“It is clearly not sensible for people to travel long distances to an area that itself is in lockdown because the virus is in such circulation,” he said.
“This simply does not make sense for anybody.”
He said he will be in discussions again with the Lighthouse Labs “to try to iron out this issue”.
Mr Drakeford added that if England were unilaterally to go into a national lockdown, hundreds of people who live in Wales and work in England would be affected.
It would be wrong for that decision to be made “without an opportunity for the Welsh First Minister to have explored those implications with the Prime Minister”, he said.
He added that this is why he continues to call for a regular series of meetings with all the component parts of the UK.
THE rapid rise of positive coronavirus cases in Bridgend in the past week is an area of concern, according to the local director of public health.
Dr Kelechi Nnoaham, public health director of Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, which covers Bridgend, Merthyr and Rhondda Cynon Taf, said they needed to look at the area closely to help with “further understanding”.
He said that while community transmission had been clear in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which went into lockdown on Thursday, it has not been as clear in Merthyr Tydfil and the speed of the rise in Bridgend was a real concern.
“Bridgend is of concern because looking at the numbers there has been a much more rapid rise,” he told BBC Radio Wales.
“There are still low numbers, but if you look at the week to week, it has increased.
“We need to bring the area into the picture of needing further understanding.”
The rate of cases per 100,000 people in Bridgend is the sixth highest in Wales at 21.1, and that is compared to 14.3 last week.
Dr Nnoaham said that while the pressure on the health service was “not significant” at the moment, he did warn that it was a “rapidly changing picture”.
He added that there were a “handful” of cases in the hospital, but added that it was only a “matter of time” before transmission in the community would mean the older generation would start to be affected.
His comments back up those made by a leading doctor who warned there is a “high risk” spikes in coronavirus cases in Welsh hotspot areas will lead to more hospital admissions and deaths.
Dr Robin Howe, of Public Health Wales, said that community transmission means older people are being infected in Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT).
Hospitalisations are already starting to rise in Wales.
The Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board in north Wales and the Cwm Taf Health Board, which covers Merthyr, RCT and Bridgend, have the highest numbers of people in hospital with the virus.
RCT went into lockdown from 6pm on Thursday, meaning people must not enter or leave the county without a reasonable excuse, such as travel for work or education.
People are banned from meeting those outside their own households indoors, and pubs, bars and restaurants have to shut by 11pm.
“There is a high risk that with the level of cases in Caerphilly and RCT we will see increased hospital admissions,” Dr Howe told BBC Radio Wales.
“And we are seeing older age groups now being infected and there is obviously a sad risk that we may be seeing deaths.
“We would expect that hospital admissions would be increasing around about now and we are perhaps starting to see that in Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, and there may be deaths in the coming days.”
Dr Nnoaham said that every effort was being made to increase the
capacity of testing in the area.
Meanwhile, the leader of Blaenau Gwent council has called on residents to “pull together” to prevent a second coronavirus wave.
Councillor Nigel Daniels has written an open letter to the residents of Blaenau Gwent following the rise of coronavirus cases in Wales.
In the last seven days Blaenau Gwent has had 25 positive coronavirus cases and the county borough has a positive rate of 35.8 in every 100,000 residents.
The Welsh Government is monitoring any local authority area that has more than 20 positive cases per 100,000 people.
Cllr Daniels said in the open letter: “My reason for writing today is to ask that everyone in Blaenau Gwent pulls together once again and works with us to try to halt this escalation in cases in Wales and any potential second wave.
“I write six months on from the start of our emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK, and sadly the virus is still very much prevalent in our communities across Wales, and particularly here in south Wales at the moment.
“Sadly, it is inevitable that this will spread to more vulnerable people and those most at risk of severe consequences and illness.
“We do not want to lose more people to this awful virus.”
The leader said that Blaenau Gwent was back in “response mode”.
He said: “As a local authority we are very much back in response mode; supporting our neighbouring authorities and remaining prepared for any changes within the Blaenau Gwent area should this happen.
“It seems that in the majority of these clusters of new cases that simple human behaviour has played a big part, with people unfortunately not adhering to the measures that are in place for all our safety, especially in relation to large social gatherings.”
Cllr Daniels also urged local businesses to keep complying with the regulations and thanked them for the way they have responded so far.