Llywydd, once again this afternoon, I will update Members on the key developments in our response to the coronavirus emergency over the past week. As in previous weeks, I will focus on those matters not covered by the statements that will follow from other Ministers. 

Llywydd, yesterday, an important supply of PPE arrived at Cardiff Airport from Cambodia. It was secured through the efforts of the Welsh Government. We will share that supply with other parts of the United Kingdom if needed, as part of the mutual aid system.

Now, Llywydd, I believe the response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates the strengths of a devolved United Kingdom. We in Wales are members of a wider collective, contributing to and drawing on shared resources, but we also act on our own initiative where our devolved powers allow us to advance Welsh interests. That's why, in addition to securing supplies elsewhere, we have focused on strengthening our domestic supply chain to help meet immediate demand and to build resilience for the future. Transcend Packaging in Ystrad Mynach, for example, has responded to the call for action and changed its processes to make a million face shields a week for the NHS in Wales. It has the capacity to double that number if needed.

And for the first time, we're close to self-sufficiency in scrubs in Wales. By the end of next week, we will be making 5,000 a week, bringing back jobs from overseas and anchoring them in our Welsh economy. We have worked with a UK company supplying the NHS with scrubs, and primarily with three Welsh businesses and social enterprises. Two of these are in north Wales and the third is in a factory we have created from scratch in Ebbw Vale, in partnership with a social enterprise, creating jobs for 50 machinists who otherwise had been long-term unemployed. 

But, Llywydd, I need to explain to Members that not every offer of help turns out to be genuine. Almost one in five of offers subsequently investigated by the experts at our own surgical materials testing laboratory in Bridgend turns out to rely on incorrect certification or to be straightforwardly fraudulent. Each one of those offers takes time and effort to investigate and is an inevitable distraction from responding to the far greater number of generous and well-intentioned possibilities. 

Sadly, this virus has been exploited by some to prey on the vulnerable. The Minister for Finance and Trefnydd published advice last week on avoiding the risks of online scams and being vigilant to the serious risks this poses to vulnerable members of our community.

Llywydd, as we attend to the urgency of the crisis, we must still find time to recognise and protect the culture and diversity of Wales. During the past week, we have continued to provide guidance and support to help deal with the implications of the virus, including £800,000 for the National Eisteddfod and Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Over the last week, I have written to everyone in Wales observing Ramadan, setting out how the festival can be celebrated safely and in ways that respect the long traditions of Islam. And in an important written statement published today to mark the anniversary of the declaration of a climate emergency by this Senedd, the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs sets out the steps we continue to take to recover loss of biodiversity and to respond to climate change in Wales.

Yesterday, as Members will know, we passed another sombre milestone as the number of deaths recorded by Public Health Wales passed 800. Each one of those deaths is an individual and a person with a grieving family and friends left behind. In recognition of the difficulties of that experience, we announced additional funding this week to support bereavement services in Wales to help them respond to the additional calls for their support.

As far as the economy is concerned, businesses across Wales will start receiving grant payments from the Welsh Government's economic resilience fund by the end of this week. Since it opened a week ago, the fund has received almost 9,000 requests for support. The scheme was paused on Monday to enable us to consider what changes can be made from that experience before we move to the next tranche.

On Friday last week, we concluded the first three-week review of the coronavirus regulations and made some modest but significant changes—some to tighten the rules and others to relax them in response to concerns raised. In the first category, we are clear that leaving home for one reason should not mean adding other activities as well. We confirmed also that physical distancing requirements apply to the workplace, cafes and canteens. In the second category, we have widened the definition of vulnerable people to 'providing supplies is a reasonable excuse to leave home', and we have relaxed the rules to allow people with autism and learning disabilities, for example, to leave home for exercise more than once a day. We have made it clear that businesses that can operate on a click-and-collect basis are able to do so, providing physical distancing is applied.

Llywydd, we take the review process very seriously and will continue to do so in consultation with partners, including the police and local authorities. We are using this review period to plan for the next phase, as I set out in the framework published on Friday. This was the start of a conversation with people in Wales about our journey out of lockdown, and the approach set out in the framework has three key elements: we explain how we will decide when it is safe to start easing the current restrictions; we have set out how we will evaluate options for the initial relaxation measures when the time is right; we want to identify those measures that have the lowest risk and the greatest positive impact on people's lives and the economy in Wales. And we have set out a public health response that will accompany the easing of restrictions. This will include surveillance, contact tracing and testing swiftly to identify and react to any emerging coronavirus hotspots, and this work is being led by the Chief Medical Officer for Wales. At the same time, we are working to plan for the future, harnessing the best ideas from Wales and expert advice from beyond Wales. A post-pandemic Wales will be a very different Wales and we need to respond with new ideas rooted in our values and the Counsel General will be leading that work.

Llywydd, we will move carefully and cautiously as we consider relaxing the current restrictions. We will continue to work closely with other Governments of the United Kingdom to try to achieve a common approach. We will work with people throughout Wales as we face the difficult decisions ahead and I will continue to report on all these matters to the Senedd each week. Diolch yn fawr.