3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:35 pm on 22 April 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:35, 22 April 2020

Okay. On the starting point, I just don't accept the premise that there's an inexcusable failure not to deliver a larger amount of testing. I've explained on several occasions the reasons why we weren't able to do it, the factors that were outside our control and what that means, and the direct advice we've had from our chief medical officer and our chief scientific adviser on health on how we make the best use of our testing resources, and the fact that we have enough testing capacity to address our front-line workers. I've also been crystal clear, not just today but on several occasions in the past, about the fact that large-scale testing is a prerequisite to move out of lockdown. I didn't need to be asked a question about that, I've proactively made that clear in a number of public statements.

I don't accept the premise that we need weekly testing for critical workers. We're not doing testing for the sake of it, we're only testing in a way that makes sense and is in accordance with the plan that we've had signed off. And, actually, it's not a dissimilar approach to the approach being taken by all four Governments across the UK on how we want to deploy our resources and the rationale that underpins it.

On PPE, I want to restate we're following the guidance. We had a review of the guidance right across the UK; all four nations are looking to follow that guidance and, in Wales, we haven't had to depart from it. And that is the point about making sure that we don't set a run on PPE use because we're responding to large-scale fears that people have, but that we provide confidence that the guidance is appropriate and is being followed, and that underscores why providing adequate amounts of PPE really is the No. 1 priority for me and for the Government at this point in time.