4. Statement by the Minister for Education: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:38 pm on 29 April 2020.

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Photo of Kirsty Williams Kirsty Williams Liberal Democrat 4:38, 29 April 2020

Certainly. The information I have from the chief medical officer is that we have one case of Kawasaki disease in a child in Wales. It is important to recognise that this significant inflammatory but very serious condition is incredibly rare, but we do need to take that into consideration. That's why advice has been given to all 111 call handlers that, if a parent is telephoning about a child—. The information that they have is that they should consider whether a child is showing symptoms of Kawasaki disease.

The truth is we are still learning a lot about this virus, and we still don't have a full picture as to the extent to which the virus affects children and young people. So, this week, we have seen the worrying development of Kawasaki disease in a very small number of children. At the same, Members will have seen the advice from Switzerland today that children under 10 can now visit their grandparents, because, in the eyes of the Swiss Government, children under 10 do not present an epidemiological risk. Cases, papers, out of France suggest that high school children are vectors for the disease, but some papers out of China say something different. We still have a lot to learn about how the disease affects children and the role of children in transmitting the disease, and, of course, that will have to be at the forefront of our thinking as we think about what the next stage of education will look like.

As I told the committee yesterday, the figures that I have from Public Health Wales are that 15 teachers have been tested, two of which were positive. But I would repeat again—as I did yesterday and as I have done on my social media channels—any teacher showing symptoms of the disease, or indeed a member of their family showing symptoms of the disease, is entitled to be tested, should be tested, and should ask for a test.