Thanks for the opportunity to provide an update about the current public health situation, the outcome of the latest review of the coronavirus regulations, and our plans to move beyond the emergency response to the pandemic as we move to live safely with coronavirus in the longer term.

I’m pleased to report that cases of coronavirus continue to be well below the peak that we saw with omicron across Wales. The latest figures show we have 178 cases per 100,000 people in Wales, but that's based on positive PCR tests. As I've previously said, however, we now need to look at a wider range of measures to understand the public health picture beyond just the PCR tests. And one of the best ways of doing this is the regular Office for National Statistics's coronavirus infection survey, which is currently carried out across the United Kingdom. The infection survey shows that infections in Wales have been falling over recent weeks. They also show that levels of infection in Wales continue to be lower than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The public health situation is improving steadily, thanks to everyone’s hard work. People in Wales continue to follow the rules and do all those small things that help to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. Last week, we reviewed all the protections we have in place at the moment and we agreed Wales will remain at alert level 0. As long as the public health situation remains favourable, we will aim to remove all the legal frameworks that have underpinned our response to the pandemic for the last two years at the end of March. This means the legal requirement to wear face coverings in those remaining settings, the requirement to self-isolate, and the requirement for businesses to carry out specific COVID risk assessments will come to an end.

Dirprwy Lywydd, these measures have kept us safe for two years and we'll not be abandoning them. We don't want to forget all those behaviours that have helped to protect us from this dreadful virus. We'll be producing guidance, we'll be advising people to carry on wearing a face covering in certain places, and to self-isolate for five days if they have symptoms, to wash their hands regularly, to meet people outdoors, if possible, and to keep indoor spaces well ventilated. We want to keep on keeping each other safe as we move to the next phase of our response, because the pandemic is not yet over. Coronavirus won’t vanish on 28 March just because we no longer have regulations.

As we move away from a law-based approach, we'll also be making changes to testing. Between the end of March and June, we'll gradually move in a phased way from PCR testing and lateral flow testing being available to everyone. PCR tests will no longer be used for symptomatic testing. Instead, lateral flow tests will be available to order free online for people with symptoms.

Dirprwy Lywydd, on Friday, we published our longer term plan 'Together for a safer future', which sets out how we'll move beyond the emergency footing we have been on for the last two years. It retains the two planning assumptions we first described in the autumn—COVID stable and COVID urgent. We hope and believe that COVID stable is the most likely scenario for the future.