Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 16 March 2021.
Nice try to the previous speaker for a general 'doing the evil Tory Government in Westminster down'. First Minister, I did hear your response about private versus public, but of course we all know it was privately employed Kate Bingham who actually very, very successfully protected the United Kingdom, including Wales, on the vaccines, by buying, investing and supporting all of those amazing scientists. So, let's hear it for the private sector as well. When you talk about having a highly effective test, trace and protect system for Wales, that's exactly what I want, but let's be clear: the World Health Organization says that a successful contact tracing system is marked by being able to trace 80 per cent of contacts within three days. Your test, trace and protect system reaches 90 per cent of contacts—well done—but within nine days after that initial contact. There is a lot of spreading within that nine-day window, significantly more than the world health authority's recommendation that it should be three days. So, can you please tell us what actions you will be taking to try to cut that lag from nine days to the WHO's recommended three days, in order to ensure that here in Wales we have the most effective test, trace and protect system?