4. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Coronavirus (COVID-2019) update

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:33 pm on 3 March 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:33, 3 March 2020

Yes, thank you for the questions. On the data that Public Health Wales provide, they provide a regular update on the situation in Wales, to see if there is any change in the guidance available, every day at 3 o'clock. Public Health England publish, on behalf of the UK, figures each day, including confirmed cases. In terms of the approach that I set out that we're going to take here in Wales, we need to think about whether it's proportionate and useful to provide data each day on the number of tests carried out. I think, actually, the challenge around confirming cases is entirely different to the number of tests being carried out. And some of that is still a moving feast. I do think the confirmed cases, and where they are—. And, for example, if there were to be a change in the way that we are providing treatment for people, if we reached a point in time where the current capacity that all four nations in the UK have agreed to concentrate around four places in England that are treating people with confirmed cases, if that was changed, we'd obviously need to provide that as well. But I'm not completely sure that providing daily information on the testing carried out is going to take us further forward in providing useful information to the public, as opposed to the outcomes of those tests. But that's a matter that I'm happy to consider, but the Public Health England site actually provides data for the whole of the UK about the number of confirmed cases, and that is updated on a daily basis.

In terms of resources, resource at this point is more about people than money. And it's how we're using the resource that we have available to us, both within the Government and within the NHS family and partner agencies. So, I don't have a specific financial ask to make of the finance Minister, who has helpfully returned at this point in time. That's partly because we can't definitively predict the impact across the whole range of activity within the Government, and indeed with partners. It may be the case that there is a significant financial impact; maybe that won't be the case. That's partly because we're not at this point in time able to predict with the necessary accuracy what that impact might be, and how money could help to do so. However, it is a matter that is part of our actual discussions at each of the COBRA calls, about whether or not there is a need for there to be a financial injection to make the additional measures that are necessary for public health to happen.