The last quarterly review by the Welsh Government will take place next week. While the Prime Minister usually gives a press conference on Friday of the evaluation week, we understand that due to the holiday there will be no press conference, but there will be an announcement on Thursday, April 14, about the rules, if there is a change.
What are the current rules in Wales?
Wales is currently at zero alert level, the current rules mean that you should only wear face masks in healthcare settings and that workplaces and public areas should be evaluated for coronavirus.
What could change?
The Welsh government says that “if the current state of public health remains stable, all remaining restrictions will be lifted”.
What is the state of public health?
Well, it’s not very simple to know because the changes around the test mean that the data is not available in the same way. PCR test sites have been closed in Wales since March 31 and the tests are not available to the general public, so data is very limited. However, if you look at the data we can gather from different sources, Covid rates are higher than ever. The most reliable source for the spread of Covid is now the weekly National Statistics Survey, which shows that in the most recent week, the infection rate reached a new peak with more than 7.5% of the population being infected. But there is good news, despite the rapid and growing spread of Covid, hospitalization and deaths are not increasing. There are a significant number of people in hospitals with the virus, which puts enormous pressure on the system. But the number of people actually being treated for the virus in acute disease hospitals, as opposed to Covid patients being treated for another condition, was below 100 most of the last week with 17 of these patients being seriously ill in the intensive care unit. We have also had recent warnings from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health that the health service is under pressure because staff are among those who are infected or not isolated, so staff pressures remain high in the NHS. We have seen this reflected in hospitals telling people not to go to the hospital unless absolutely necessary. We have taken a detailed look at all the latest data here and you can see from a board-by-board analysis that some areas have really high rates, the highest in the most recent data available in Blaenau Gwent.
So will the rules change?
It’s a break in the political world, as neither Westminster nor Senedd are sitting for the Easter break, so the musical mood is a little harder to measure. Case rates will be a real concern for the Welsh Government when it meets this week before making any decision. As in any review, we will be told that ministers will meet with scientists and review the latest data and make any changes as late as possible to take everything into account. The Prime Minister had proposed in the last review, which took place three weeks ago, that all restrictions be lifted, but the rise in interest rates led him to keep some measures in force because the BA.2 variant was a cause for concern. “Unfortunately, today we are facing a very different situation,” he said. He said: “We hoped, as you know, that we would have lifted all legal restrictions by Monday next week, we are not able to do that, in light of the numbers we are seeing right now. “We are therefore continuing our step-by-step approach to tackling the virus, removing some of the legal restrictions on Monday, but we need to keep others in place. So it’s an analogous approach, while staying on the road to finding a safe way to live with the virus. “ In the last press conference, Mr. Drakeford sounded more optimistic that we saw the back of the restrictions, however. Responding to questions from the media, Mr Drakeford said: “I think it is unlikely that we will have to go back to the level of protection we saw last winter, mainly because, as I said, we now have protection. The JCVI met again yesterday to plan “In advance of how vaccination will continue to be part of our defense against the virus, there are new treatments available, antivirals and so on that will change the way we can treat this virus.” Read more related articles Read more related articles
