Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 8 December 2020.
First Minister, we know that infection rates in Wales are 70 per cent higher than when we entered the firebreak in October, and rates have increased by 82 per cent since the end of the firebreak lockdown. Indeed, the fact is that there are now more than 1,800 coronavirus-related patients in hospitals across Wales, which is the highest number since the pandemic began, and it shows that something has seriously gone wrong. And we know that there is still an issue in hospital settings, and clearly, more work needs to be done to tackle hospital-acquired infections, and there are also concerns over transmission rates in household settings, which you as a Government have been saying throughout this pandemic, of course.
Yesterday, as has already been said, the health Minister also warned that the Welsh Government would be looking at whether further measures would be needed to suppress this virus, but the health Minister refused to provide any further details to the people of Wales on what those restrictions would look like and whether they would be concentrated on specific sectors and environments, and whether they would be nationwide restrictions. Therefore, will the First Minister confirm exactly what further measures are now being considered, and is the Welsh Government looking at further restrictions before the Christmas period restrictions, or is the intention to bring in further measures post-Christmas?