Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:05 pm on 8 April 2020.
Just on the issue of contact tracing, testing and tracing, where there is, obviously, a range of views and a difference of opinion amongst scientists, epidemiologists and public health experts, given that the demographics of Wales are different—and, indeed, Ministers have referred to this—would it be possible for the Welsh Government to commission its own independent modelling, or ask SAGE and the various sub-committees to conduct specific modelling on the issue of whether we in Wales, as we come out of the lockdown, should adopt this policy, the South Korean policy of testing and tracing?
In relation to PPE, can I just say we've been contacted today by one despairing care home owner, who is trying to order PPE from the leading supplier for care homes in the UK only to be told that these supplies were given to them for distribution by Public Health England, and as such they had to be reserved for English-based homes only? Could you make urgent enquiries, First Minister, to verify if that is correct?
And also, in relation to the economic situation that was referred to earlier, it's obviously concerning to learn that the £100 million business loan scheme by the Development Bank of Wales is now fully subscribed after one week? Can you say when and how you plan to extend it?
And finally, in relation to the Easter bank holiday weekend and sending out the right signal, as I'm sure you as First Minister will do, do you think it would be useful for the UK Government, as you have done, to announce, in advance of the weekend, that they were extending the lockdown rather than waiting for the three weeks to be up effectively next Tuesday, so that that would send the strongest possible signal that this is a national emergency, it's not a national holiday?