Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Llywydd, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended an acceleration of the vaccine programme following the emergence of this new variant. I have accepted the JCVI's advice, and I echo the words of its chair, who has said that we will get the greatest benefit if we can vaccinate people before another wave hits. We will be extending the booster programme to all adults...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you very much for the opportunity to update Members about the latest and very serious development in this fast-moving pandemic. At the end of last week, the World Health Organization advised countries around the world to take a series of measures following the identification of a new variant of concern of coronavirus. The variant, now called omicron, was...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'd like to thank Rhun for his commitment in supporting these new regulations. You're right that the landscape is very important. Ten per cent of the cases in hospital today are COVID related, and, of course, we're already committed to spending £0.25 billion in ensuring that services recover post COVID. So, I hope that we can actually look at those cases of people who have been waiting a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Huw, it's always a joy to hear your special cases, and particularly a joy to hear this one, which is rather quirky. But I am sure, if I am not to intervene at this point, I think speaking in general terms, if people have been advised by public health experts not to do a particular thing, I think they would be well advised to be in a situation where they heeded that advice, and that they would...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I think one of the key things to remember in terms of what we're discussing here today—it's a very legal discussion that we're participating in here—is that part of it is about making sure that, actually, these restrictions are not in place indefinitely. We have a process where these are revised, but there is effectively a sunset clause built into these regulations....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm happy to take an intervention.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm sure Russell is aware that these regulations don't just apply to cinemas; they also apply to the broader regulations surrounding all of the other measures that we have in place, including wearing face coverings in public places, working from home and all of those other things. So, I think as we enter the winter months, it is really important when we see cases surging across the continent...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm very disappointed to hear that the Conservatives won't be supporting these regulations. We are at a situation in Wales where we have over 500 cases per 100,000. That is a very, very high level of cases within our communities and I think it's frankly irresponsible not to take this situation seriously. We have put these protections in place in order to protect the public. We are going into...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I am grateful to Members for their contribution to this debate. I think it is important that I emphasise once again that, unfortunately, coronavirus has not disappeared. The situation in Wales remains serious, with case rates that are far too high. The pandemic continues to put significant pressure on our health services.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I move the motion before us. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 put in place the legislative framework for the alert levels described in the coronavirus control plan. In the autumn and winter update of this plan, which we published on 8 October, we set out what we expect to keep as a baseline measure in place over the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. Well, in terms of the vaccination in England and Wales, that surprises me that it’s such a problem because, actually, we’re sharing the data together. So, if you can write to me about that specific case, I’ll be more than happy to take that up. The COVID pass is a shared system, so we’re doing that together with England. When it comes to overseas travel and the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks, Gareth. Like you, I'm keeping a very close eye on the care sector, as is my colleague Julie Morgan—very concerned about the relationship between care homes and hospitals and the flow through that is crucial to keep the whole system moving. We do have very clear guidelines when it comes to visiting care homes. So, all of those are set out, and you will find that information on our...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Joyce. I think, actually, that one of the things that it might be worth us all considering is using different language around this. We keep on talking about restrictions. Well, I think that it's important that we start to talk about protections, because that's what we are putting in place—protections. We're trying to protect the public here from coronavirus. So, that's...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: —since we've introduced the COVID pass, in his cinema, he has seen the sales go through the roof; that, actually, people are far more comfortable about going to the cinema now, they feel safer and they're asking, 'Can we keep those measures once you take them away—? If you're going to dismantle them, we would like to continue to enforce them'. And I think it's really important that people...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I am very sorry to hear about Ffion's situation, and we all think about her and wish her all the best. And I think that's a very important point to make: none of us know how we will respond when we catch coronavirus, and that's why it's so important that we do have the vaccine if we're offered it. So, I am very pleased to see that so many people have taken up the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, diolch yn fawr Russell. I must say, in terms of the vaccine passport, we will, like everything else, keep all the options on the table. I think it would be irresponsible for us, particularly when we see the rates on the continent go through the roof, not to keep everything on the table. So, that option will continue to be on the table. We continue our discussions with the sector. It is...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Dirprwy Lywydd, vaccination is our best defence against this awful virus, especially when combined with all the other measures we can take to protect ourselves. We continue to encourage everyone who is eligible to take up the offer of vaccination and the booster. We are implementing the latest advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to offer a second dose of the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, for the opportunity to provide Members with the latest information about the public health situation and the outcome of last week’s review of the coronavirus regulations. Since my last update three weeks ago, there has been a reduction in overall rates of infection in Wales. They have fallen back from very high levels that we saw at the end of October, thanks to the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Although we cannot send vaccines from Wales, there is important work that we can do to support, and that's why over the past two years, the Welsh Government has provided an additional £2.5 million to Welsh organisations to work in partnership with many African nations to fight COVID-19. Along with this work, the Welsh Government did adapt the Wales and Africa grant scheme in 2020 to use...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to begin my contribution by thanking Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this important topic for debate today. I'm always keen to take the opportunity to thank those across the NHS in Wales and our public services for delivering our world-leading vaccination programme, as referenced in the motion. However, it is clear that not everyone around the world...
