3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on Coronavirus

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:32 pm on 8 June 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 3:32, 8 June 2021

I'd like to offer my congratulations to the Minister in her new role, and I look forward to working with you positively over the next few years. Now, much has been said today about how we find ourselves in a much better place than we did, say 12 months ago, and we've put that down to the work of Welsh Government, the UK Government, our fantastic health staff, and indeed, our Welsh public; well, the majority of them. I still have people within my own constituency e-mailing me quite regularly who just do not see the need for vaccinations, or indeed believe that this pandemic is for real, and that is quite worrying. 

I'm very worried also about the numbers increased of the delta variant in my own constituency. So, I've joined Public Health Wales, Conwy County Borough Council, and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to urge people to go for tests, especially in those areas like Llandudno and Llandudno Junction and Penrhyn Bay, to be alert for coronavirus symptoms and to take a test as soon as possible even if they are not showing symptoms. 

But I would be pleased to hear from you today, Minister, an update on the numbers confirmed. I spoke with Public Health Wales a week ago, and I am quite concerned to have a real picture of what's happening in my own constituency. I've been trying to establish whether the variant is spreading via particular settings. That information would be quite useful, because, according to the health board, investigations are ongoing and a number of different settings are being looked at. I'm concerned that the testing strategy of targeting the Llandudno area itself is deeply flawed. Twenty-two thousand-ish people live in Llandudno; however, that can swell to about 60,000 at this time of the year. So, already, we are seeing the area expanding to include Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, Old Colwyn and Deganwy. However, Llandudno is a leading seaside resort and it is a main shopping centre that attracts people from the whole of north Wales.

So, will you consider liaising with the health board to look at encouraging all residents in Aberconwy to get tested now even if they're not showing symptoms? I would certainly hope that such decisive action would help us to get a grip on the spread, especially, as has been said here, as the delta variant is 40 per cent more transmissible than the Kent strain. 

And, finally, last night, just as I'd arrived in Cardiff, I was contacted by a local hotelier who had been informed by a guest who had returned home that they had tested positive 24 hours after returning home. So, they were in a right panic; they had guests in their hotel. So, I gave them as many numbers and possible agencies they could contact, only for them to come back and say, 'All we've been told now is someone will contact us at 8 a.m. in the morning.' Whether you could look at better advice going out for those especially in the hospitality industry. There's been an 84 per cent increase of delta cases. So I was just wondering whether you could look at working with Betsi Cadwaladr to make sure that the information required at, sometimes, a very late hour—I think it was about 9 o'clock last night, and I know that I was still in conversation with my constituent, who's a hotelier, at 10.45 last night, and they were very panic-stricken for the sake of the guests there and indeed their own family. Thank you.