1. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 5 August 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:46, 5 August 2020

Well, Llywydd, as I said in my statement, there will be no relaxation of social bubbles—the ability of people to meet indoors—until Friday of next week at the earliest. We will review the very latest information on the circulation of the virus on Wednesday and Thursday of next week and then make a decision, which will be announced on Friday. 

Our caution in providing further freedoms for people to meet indoors is based on the evidence that we see elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Seventy per cent of all new infections reported in England Public Health England attribute to household contacts. So, people are not catching the virus in large numbers in the workplace or in restaurants or meeting outdoors, but seven out of 10 new infections are as a result of the way that people interact inside the home. And the more we allow that to happen, the more opportunities we provide for the virus to recirculate, and if you provide this virus with new opportunities, it will recirculate. That is why we have taken the precautionary approach that we have in Wales. 

Now, if the virus remains effectively suppressed in Wales at the end of next week, then I would like to be able to go further than we are at the moment to allow more opportunities for family and friends to meet indoors. But we won't do that if the evidence is that that would add to the risk we face in Wales in a way that would encourage the virus to be back in circulation. The Member, I know, will understand that our precautionary approach is further reinforced by the way in which liberalisation of measures across our border, and today in Scotland, as he will have seen, has had to be reversed because the virus has sprung up again. So it's a very careful and difficult balancing act. We will pursue the data, as ever, and make a decision by Friday of next week.