Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:33 pm on 9 November 2021.
Thank you very much, Llywydd, and I move the motion before us this afternoon. I stand here in sadness today in bringing forward regulations to increase the use of the COVID pass. However, I must once again emphasise that coronavirus has not disappeared, and unfortunately the situation in Wales remains very serious. The number of cases of COVID-19 is still very high and has been increasing in some areas. In the current wave, we have seen the highest number ever of cases confirmed in Wales. At the moment, the transmission rate is 527 for every 100,000. These consistently high rates do lead to serious illness for increasing numbers of people. This is also putting pressure on our health service, which is already under huge pressure.
Although the link between cases of COVID-19 and hospital admissions has been weakened by the vaccination programme, the link has not been entirely broken. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 did introduce the legislative framework for the alert levels in the coronavirus control plan. Members will now be highly aware of the process for reviewing these restrictions on a three-weekly cycle. After the last review on 28 October, and in response to an increase in the number of cases across Wales, the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, announced our intention to expand the requirement to show a COVID pass.