Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mark. I think the first thing to say is that we are very aware of the importance of this sector to Wales. I think it's one of the areas, in particular in parts of north Wales and the Brecon Beacons, where, actually, people can have life-changing experiences—taking people outside of their normal environment and exposing them to life outdoors. Of course, we understand how...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Darren. I know you've been a champion of the armed services for many, many years, and it's great to see you continuing in that role. You'll be aware that if we allow people to stay in the same accommodation overnight, then the chances of viral spread is significantly increased. We're able to do that in relation to primary school children, partly because we know that if they...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'm very aware that dentistry is one of those sectors where we have to be very careful, because the danger of aerosol spread is real and more significant there than in many other sectors. That's why we are still in a situation where we're on an amber warning in relation to dentistry. That means that those restrictions are really quite severe. We have to make sure that there is very...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much. Certainly, we were very anxious to make sure that you heard this information in the Chamber. We were very aware that that statement was made on Friday by the First Minister, and further information given yesterday by myself. That's why we were very anxious. Don't forget that we are making decisions here in real time with data that is coming at us very last minute, and we are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. In terms of the consistency of communication, I think that the guidance is very clear on the websites of the health authorities in terms of where people should go. I think it's difficult, because people do receive their information now from so many different sources, and I think that what we're trying to do is to respond to what is appropriate, particularly where we see...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Gosh, lots of questions there, Russell. Thank you. I'll do my best to try and answer them. You'll be aware that we are just entering a third wave, and that is why now is not the time to put our foot down on the pedal, especially when we are still learning about the delta variant. There are some really encouraging early signs, but obviously it's really difficult for us to measure from Wales,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Dirprwy Lywydd, I want to pay tribute to our fantastic vaccine programme and everyone who has made it such a success. The very latest figures show that 88.7 per cent of adults have had their first dose and 60.2 per cent have had their second. Between now and mid July, we'll be putting an extra 0.5 million vaccines into the system. We'll be focused on offering a second dose to everyone in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. For the first time this Senedd and for the first time in many months, I must tell Members that cases of coronavirus are, unfortunately, rising in Wales. We are once again facing a serious situation and we are at the beginning of a third wave of the pandemic. In the space of a few short weeks, the delta variant, which was originally known as the variant of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I am committed to the expansion of medical education in north Wales. We have made good progress in this respect through the collaboration between Bangor and Cardiff universities on their C21 programme, which is successfully facilitating opportunities for medical students to undertake a significant part of their study at Bangor University. The already established north Wales medical school...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Rhun, you asked about restrictions on singing. I have pushed on this issue for some time. Every time I go to the cathedral in St David's, they ask me, 'Why can't we sing?' The problem is, the science is against us on this point. We're very eager as people to push forward with this, but the science is very clear on this, and that's why we can't go further. And we're very eager to press ahead,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, and I thank David Rees for looking at this in his role as committee Chair.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Can I refer, first of all, to the human rights and equality impact assessment? As a part of the 21-day restriction review process, there is always an assessment carried out for each area of restriction and of easement, and we do a summary impact assessment for every decision that's taken place within that 21-day review framework. That includes a well-being impact, economic impact assessment,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I thank—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Sorry, you're right.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Wales still has the lowest rates of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United Kingdom. Alongside this, the incredible pace of our vaccination roll-out continues. Yesterday marked a key milestone whereby every adult in Wales has been offered the vaccine. However, the worrying rise in the number of delta variant cases brings a new level of uncertainty. Public Health Wales has reported that...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Llywydd. I formally move the motions before us. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 set the legislative framework for the four alert levels described in the coronavirus management plan. Members will know that a review of restrictions must be held on a three-weekly basis. The most recent review was conducted on 3 June. All...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Mark. If you follow the logic of that, it would suggest that, actually, GPs couldn't refer anyone on unless they'd experienced the illness themselves. We have to follow the fact that, actually, GPs and people in primary care follow guidance and they follow guidelines that we have set for them, which is generally based on NICE guidelines, which has all been clinically proven....
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Hefin. Can I thank you also for establishing this long COVID cross-party group? We've heard that complaint also—that many have found it difficult to get past the GP. That's why, on 18 June, the all-Wales guideline for the management of long COVID is going to be launched, giving much clearer guidance to GPs on what they should be looking out for and when they should be...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Altaf. I'm sure there's an opportunity to go into this in a bit more detail. It's not strictly speaking a long COVID issue. We are of course making sure that we follow the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. That's the way that we determine who gets what vaccine. As the balance of risk is changing in the light of the delta variant, we'll be looking for...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thanks very much, Rhianon. I'm very sad to hear that you, of course, like everyone else here, have constituents who have been really affected by this really difficult and long affecting illness. I have made a commitment to ensure that we look at this Adferiad programme on a six-monthly basis, because this is such a novel disease and there's always new evidence. The point that Rhun made...
