4. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Update on COVID-19

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:09 pm on 11 January 2022.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 5:09, 11 January 2022

Thanks very much, Alun. Obviously, we do have a kind of route-map out of this in the sense that we already have the levels that are in place, so there's no reason why we couldn't just move down the levels pretty quickly. We don't even need to move to level 1; maybe that we could move directly to level zero, or it may be that we would like to go even faster, and it may be that we would want to introduce some relaxations quicker than others. So, all of those things have been things that the First Minister now has asked for some advice on, so that we can see a way out of this.

In terms of what metrics we'll be using, well, we've always used as a metric the pressure on the NHS and we wouldn't want to see the NHS being overwhelmed. So, obviously hospitalisations—there's good news on hospitalisations, so that's a relief. I guess the pressure on the NHS at the moment is actually coming from absenteeism, so that's where the pressure is at the moment, at a time, let's not forget, when the NHS is under significant pressure, so this time of year is always difficult, but to try and cope with this at a time when you've got 8 per cent of your staff off—. And let's not forget, it's not over yet, so we just need to make sure that we are getting those up-to-date absentee figures. So, I think those two things are going to be pretty key in terms of making our determination.

And when it comes to the COVID pass, I think that the COVID pass gave people a measure of confidence, actually, that, actually, it was a bit safer to go out. I think they want to know that the people around them are taking it seriously, and knowing that other people around you have been vaccinated or have been boosted—certainly in terms of the e-mails I was receiving, it was very interesting to see the number of people saying, 'Right, I will go to the cinema. I wasn't happy to go before now.' But very interesting, and certainly, from the response I had from one cinema, saying: 'We've never had it so good.' It was really interesting; that was the difference. I don't know if that's still the case, but certainly, at the time, delta was the dominant variant, and certainly, that's the position at the moment.