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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 29 April 2020.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 3:28, 29 April 2020

Minister, the infection rate known as 'R' is below 1 because of the lockdown and vigorous social distancing. It seems to me that the only way it remains below 1—and in Germany we're already seeing that is a formidable challenge—is if we can test and trace extensively. But we're still quite vague on what that system is going to look like. I know in England they're aiming to recruit 18,000 contact tracers; that would give us roughly 900 in Wales, if we needed a similar capacity. But lots of questions about what technology will be used and where these people will be recruited. Will they be more local authority based or health authority based? What's it going to look like? And how are we going to deal with the particular challenges of high-density housing, tower blocks and that, where lots of people don't know their neighbours, and yet the knowledge and passing the information on of who's been in contact with whom and how is really very important? Without that picture, it seems to me we can't move significantly out of lockdown. And can you give us a bit more detail on what that picture is going to look like in Wales?