Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 24 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:46, 24 November 2020

Well, Llywydd, I think it's just important to remind Members that when Merthyr was identified as the first place where we would carry out a mass testing experiment in Wales, it was—as it was for a number of days—by far the largest area of incidence of coronavirus. Others have overtaken it in the meantime but, in the planning, you've got to start with the figures that are in front of you at that time.

I know there will be a question later this afternoon, Llywydd, but just to say that the early days of mass testing in Merthyr have gone very well and are a tribute to the actions of local organisations, but also citizens, in that area. We will learn a lot from doing it; we can be sure of that. We are already learning things from these very early days. There are already proposals for expanding mass testing into other areas. There will be choices to be made, Llywydd, and they won't be easy choices either.

I referred in my answer to the first question to the fact that we might be able to use lateral flow tests to assist in preventing children from being asked to self-isolate in the school setting. We talked, I think, last week on the floor of the Senedd about using lateral flow devices to allow visits to care homes, and we could use lateral flow devices to have a greater scope of mass testing in Wales.

But there is a finite number of them. We expect to have around 90,000 of them a day available to us here in Wales, but they would very soon be used up from a number of the purposes that I have just outlined. So, it will be a balancing act. It'll be trying to prioritise where we use them. There will be some more opportunities for further mass testing, but there will be other important purposes for which that finite supply of such tests can also be deployed in Wales.