1. Statement by the First Minister: Update on COVID-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:54 pm on 22 December 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:54, 22 December 2021

Llywydd, it is not the COVID passes that have changed; it is the context within which they are being used. COVID passes have been a very successful part of our protections against the delta variant. We're now facing a different form of coronavirus—one that moves much more quickly—and we have to assess the use of COVID passes in that new context. Ice rinks will not be closed during the regime that I've outlined this afternoon, and parkruns can go ahead. I'm beginning to feel more baffled now by the focus that's being placed on them. Fifty people can take part in a parkrun and that doesn't include the people who are there to help to make it happen. If there are more than 50 people wanting to take part, then the answer is pretty simple: you just have another time where those other people can do that very useful and important thing. So, the idea that parkruns cannot take place is plainly not the case.