COVID-19 Cases in Caerphilly

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 3 November 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:54, 3 November 2020

Llywydd, provided we all do everything we can to make the most of this firebreak period, not to undermine it as so many Members of her party have spent the last 10 days trying to do, and provided we all do the right things in the period beyond the firebreak, then we have a path in Wales through to Christmas that will not require a further period of this sort to be imposed on people in Wales.

Beyond this calendar year, none of us is in a position to gaze into that crystal ball. Many things will change between now and then, including the course of the disease itself, but also other possibilities that will come our way in dealing with the disease. Later this week, my colleague Vaughan Gething will issue a statement on new developments in testing, led in many ways here in Wales. And if those possibilities are crystalised and those tests become available—tests that people can use for themselves, with rapid results being provided to them without having to go a centre or send them off for results—then that will give us a different set of actions that we might be able to take to combat the disease in the new year. Nobody sensible is in a position to say that any course of action should be ruled in or should be ruled out, but we have a pathway through the rest of the calendar year, provided every one of us does the things in our own lives that most protect ourselves and others, and that needs the support of every single elected Member in this Senedd.