6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: COVID restrictions

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:43 pm on 19 January 2022.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 4:43, 19 January 2022

I'm not taking any more interventions, Dirprwy Lywydd.

So, the argument that the actions taken by the people of Wales had no impact on the transmission of omicron is not only offensive, but it is not borne out by the facts. Indeed, we now see that the latest ONS figures show that the rate of infections in Wales is much lower than England, with Wales infection rates currently standing at 3.7 per cent, compared to 5.7 per cent in England, and that is despite the fact that, unlike England, we count those who've been reinfected in our statistics. So, as Huw Irranca-Davies said in his intervention, that means that in Wales we've seen one in 25 infected, compared to one in 20 in England. So, please, let's just nail down this nonsense that measures that we've taken here have no effect on our infection rates.

Llywydd, despite good news today on infection rates—