Llywydd, I want to broaden this debate today, because the interventions by both the Welsh Government and the UK Government not only have implications for Wales and the UK, but have worldwide implications. The World Health Organization are now advocating that national lockdowns should be the last resort in combating COVID-19, so why are both the UK and the Welsh Governments still pursuing this disastrous policy?

We in the developed world owe it to those in the third world to keep our economies strong and open for trade. Only by maintaining a strong western economy are we able to purchase vital goods from some of the poorest countries on earth. The imports from these countries literally mean life and death, because only by maintaining these exports are they able to—and I use this term in the strongest possible sense—feed themselves. We are literally protecting lives in the world's richest economies at the expense of lives in the poorest countries on earth. What is even more appalling about the west's lockdown strategies is that they say it is to protect the old, many of whom—or, I should say, many of us—have had long and fulfilled lives, and for most of our lives enjoyed all the luxuries of a rich, modern economy. Yet this sort of protection is at the expense of the young and the very young in these poorest countries of the world.

This does not mean we abandon our old and vulnerable to the virus and its consequences, but simply we change our strategies. Perhaps we ought to examine some of the latest statements from the guru of the COVID crisis, chief medical adviser to the UK Government, Chris Whitty. I quote: the vast majority of the British public will not contract the virus at all. Of those who do, a significant proportion will not know they have had it. They will be asymptomatic. Of those who do show symptoms, 80 per cent—and remember, I'm quoting the chief medical officer of the UK—will have a moderate reaction, and a small proportion of these may have to go to bed for a few days. An unfortunate minority will have to be hospitalised and may need oxygen treatment before returning home. Of this minority, a small minority will require critical care, and a tiny minority of these will unfortunately die. And this, again: overall death rates will be less than 1 per cent; even in the very highest of the high-risk groups, if they contract the virus, they will not die. All the words of the chief medical officer advising the UK Government.

All the statistics show that COVID-19 is little or no threat to the young and healthy in the western world. So, the lockdowns are there to protect the sick and the vulnerable. But surely the strategy should be to make sure that those who are in this category are adequately protected, either by self-isolation at home or with the strictest anti-COVID regimes in our care homes and hospitals.

We have no right to carry on protecting ourselves at the expense of the world's poor. Unless we catch the virus and fall desperately ill, we in this establishment will suffer little from this pandemic. Our salaries are guaranteed, our stomachs will always be full. We must end this selfish madness, reopen our economies and ensure we're strong enough to carry on bringing in those imports from the world's poorest nations, so they can carry on protecting their vulnerable, their old and their young, simply by ensuring they are adequately fed. Thank you, Llywydd.