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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 26 August 2020.

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Photo of Adam Price Adam Price Plaid Cymru 1:45, 26 August 2020

Diolch. First Minister, testing has been a key feature of the response to the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. Two weeks ago, researchers at Yale University secured emergency Food and Drug Administration approval for their saliva-based COVID-19 test. Now, there are two main advantages to a saliva test: it's less invasive, yet comparable in accuracy to the current test; and it costs as little as £1 per sample. So that means that, now, for the first time, we have a simple, quick, cheap means of conducting regular mass testing of the population. Even more exciting is a paper test developed by Harvard University that can produce results in minutes and can be done at home, without having to send it off to a laboratory. These are tests that are particularly designed to detect people who are infectious. As the epidemiologist Michael Mina has quoted quite colourfully, the fire department wants to detect somebody that's walking the streets with a flamethrower, not somebody lighting a match in their house. Routine mass testing of everyone in Wales once a week could be absolutely transformative, yet very affordable, particularly when we compare it to the continuing social and economic costs of lockdown restrictions. So, will the First Minister commit to exploring this exciting new possibility?