Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 10:18 am on 15 July 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 10:18, 15 July 2020

On Mr Price's first point, I've seen that study, and I'm very happy to ask the technical advisory group to look at it. At first reading, it does seem very implausible. We have managed in Wales to go from a position where we were reporting many tens of deaths every day to a position where there was no death at all reported in three or four days over the weekend, and during that period face coverings were never compulsory at all. So, how it is plausibly argued that we would have 1,000 extra deaths prevented simply by wearing face coverings—? At first reading, I found that very difficult to understand and to see the force of that argument, particularly when face coverings are nowhere near as much of a protection to you as sustaining a 2m social distance and doing the other things that have a greater impact on people's chances of contracting the virus. But, our technical advisory group is there to review evidence and I'm very happy that it should review that evidence as well.

This afternoon, Llywydd, my colleague Vaughan Gething will be answering a question, I understand, on care homes. He'll be able to explain the results of the analysis that we've been carrying out of the four weeks of weekly testing of care home staff—testing that revealed a prevalence of coronavirus amongst care home staff at 0.1 per cent, one person in every thousand. So, he will set out his conclusions as to what that means for testing in the care home sector in the weeks to come this afternoon, and what he will have to say will be the result of engagement directly with Care Forum Wales.