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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:57 pm on 22 September 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:57, 22 September 2020

Thank you for the questions. On care homes, we've actually picked up a number of positive cases from our regular programme of testing of care home staff, and that's allowed us to understand what's taking place there and to isolate not just the staff, but to then have some protection and additional testing around the care homes affected. It is literally a handful—less than a handful—at present, but we're taking that seriously because we know the significant harm that can be caused if there's a real outbreak within a care home—not just a closed environment, but a closed environment with very vulnerable people, vulnerable to much more significant harm from this virus.

It's also reflective of what's happening within the wider community, and so there's a challenge there about how we protect people. And again, it goes back—it still starts off with contact in the home and if people are mixing in the home in larger numbers, it's likely to come through, as it has done, in a range of pubs and people coming into those pubs and if they're not respecting the social distancing guidance and the rules in those pubs as well, well, it should be no surprise that staff and people who drink there are then going to walk away with coronavirus as well. So, businesses need to do their part in following the rules with their staff to protect their staff and their customers, but customers who want to continue to enjoy the ability to go to have a drink or go out for a meal need to follow the rules as well, because otherwise, we will need to take more significant measures than I've outlined already. It's also the case that every local authority is looking at enforcement and the number of spot checks that are taking place, and that is producing a response from the more responsible parts of the business and we're also picking up issues that do require improvement as well.

On shielding, the starting point is that people who have previously shielded should follow the advice and be particularly stringent about doing so, particularly that point about who you have within your own home, about following the advice on social distancing. Our chief medical officers across the UK are looking again at shielding. It's a particularly medical model that's been adopted in the past. Now, that doesn't mean to say that it wasn't worth having, but for the next phase, we've got to consider whether that's the right approach, because we understand now that people at the greatest risk of harm aren't all neatly packaged up in the list of medical conditions. We know that if you're of certain ethnic minority origins, if you're black African or Caribbean, if you're from a south Asian origin or if you're overweight as well, you are in a higher risk category, but that won't be picked up in a medical list, necessarily, on itself, unless you have a diagnosed condition. The same for areas where there is a higher degree of socioeconomic disadvantage—much greater risk of harm, yet not picked up in our shielding advice. We're looking for a more nuanced form of advice that will still help people to understand how they can manage their risks.

And on testing, I'm happy to confirm that I do expect there to be more testing resources from the Welsh Government and national health service provision. In particular, the testing centre in Cwm should benefit from an additional lane, where those tests will go to Public Health Wales labs to supplement the challenges that we still see within the UK-led lighthouse lab testing programme.