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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:39 pm on 22 September 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:39, 22 September 2020

Thank you for the series of comments, and I'll try to respond to the points with questions attached to them. The Senedd, of course, votes on regulations and the significant restrictions that have been introduced and the interruptions to people's liberty, and I recognise that; it's not an easy or straightforward decision to take. What we are trying to do though is to avoid harm, not wait until significant harm has been caused. In the first wave, we have, compared to England, seen materially fewer excess deaths in Wales. So, that's a positive, and yet we still see more than 2,500 people have lost their lives to coronavirus. That is despite the significant measures that we have taken. We can be confident, I'm afraid, that without any measures being taken we would have seen a much, much greater loss of life and that is why we need to act.

In terms of the challenge about whether we should have a big stick for those people who are not following the rules, actually we need to both persuade, encourage and support people to follow the rules. And, in particular, that's why the financial measures to support self-isolation are so important. Clarity on the consequentials for that rapidly would be most welcome in each of the four nations, and it was a point that was raised in today's COBRA meeting that we need clarity for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on the moneys that will be available to help people in self-isolation. Because if you're on statutory sick pay, and you need to go into self-isolation for 14 days, you may find that you're not able to feed your family or pay your bills. That's not a position that we want to put people in, so it could put people off taking a test in the first place. So, as soon as we get clarity on the finance, we'll happily come back with a scheme to make sure that is in place.