The UK Government has acted too soon by ending self-isolation requirements and announcing that Covid testing will be cut back in England, Wales’ health minister has claimed.
Boris Johnson told the Commons on February 21 that the legal requirement to self-isolate will end on Thursday, February 24, and testing rules will drastically change from April 1. You can read the timetable for the plans here.
But the Welsh Government’s health minister Eluned Morgan has said that there was “very heated” meeting between UK Government, where the cabinet was represented by Michael Gove, and devolved nations. She said the UK Government had not “bottomed out the detail of what they’re announcing” and has not thought about how people on low incomes will afford lateral flow tests when their free provision is ended. One estimate was that a box of six would cost around £20.
Read more: Boris Johnson’s full timetable for ending all Covid rules, free testing and self-isolation payments
Mrs Morgan reiterated the words of Wales’ First Minister that it was “premature” to make the announcement. She said “clearly, what happens in England will now have to play into our ability to deliver a safe future for the for the people of Wales”.
She said that Wales will not match any of the UK Government announcements made today and its next review of the rules is on March 4.
Mrs Morgan said: “It worries us a lot. I think we all accept that. At some point, we will have to reduce the number of tests. I’m particularly concerned about the ability of people who are vulnerable who can’t afford to pay for an LFT test and it struck me that they hadn’t even thought about that in the UK Government. So we’re obviously in a different place in relation to this, in Wales, and once again, we’re trying to follow the science but as I think they’re following a political dynamic in Westminster,” she said.
“I think it’s premature and I think it’s reckless and is a situation which is not, I think, backed by evidence. It’s clear that the system up until now has meant that we have been able to break the trends and change the transmission but we’re still at a position where we have pretty high rates within our communities, Clearly at some point we need to ramp down but we should do that at a time when the transmissions are not so high and when was absolutely clear what we’re going to put in its place.
“Certainly from the very heated discussion we had today with the UK Government it is clear that they simply don’t have the detail on how they plan to keep up with any form of testing in future, to what extent that will be continued, and of course, we are concerned about the possible emergence of new variants.”
“It was clear from the meeting they simply haven’t bottomed out the detail of what they’re announcing today,” she said.
“What’s good is that at least, it looks like they are going to, to continue with some kind of ONS surveillance. That wasn’t clear at the beginning of the weekend, so it’s good that that there will be some kind of continuity in terms of ONS surveillance at scale, that was what we were promised. And there will be some granular data each at each of the four nations.
“What is not clear, is what the contingency infrastructure looks like. So when you dismantle this, what is left so that you can rebuild quickly? And it was clear from today’s discussion that they haven’t bottomed that out”.
She said that meant how testing centres, upping testing and having enough lateral flows tests, if the situation worsens.
“It is all of those three things because it’s not just about what happens today is about what may happen tomorrow. And the fact is, none of us know what may happen tomorrow and it is possible and certainly the experts are telling us it’s very possible that we could see a new variant that is more dangerous than Omicron in future.
“So we first of all need to look out for that and we need a surveillance system but then we’ll need a testing system. And obviously, we will have to then reactivate some kind of system where people need to self isolate but they’ve dismantled the whole system by the looks things or they will be in the next few weeks”.
Tests being used in Wales are part of its UK allocation of rapid test kits, which have been paid for by the UK Government.
Asked how it will impact Wales, in terms of money or testing availability or facilities available to Welsh Government she said: “The fact is, we don’t know what the answer is in practice because they couldn’t give us any clarity about how much and whether there will be additional funding to maintain testing within the UK.
“So they’re clearly not going to get rid of it entirely but the question then is how much will they keep and from what pot will they pay for that. I think they suggested that there may be around £3bn but we’re not clear about whether that’s over and above what’s already been given to the NHS or whether that will be additional.”
Asked if the UK Government’s decision to end self isolation payments, and testing will force Welsh Government hands to do the same, because they don’t have the funding, she replied: “We would then be in a situation where we would have to determine what our priority is in relation to health spending in Wales. We have kept some money and we have budgeted to an extent for testing but clearly, if they are ramping down that testing in England, then there will be knock on effects for us if there’s no additional financing.”
She said that is a source of worry.
While she said it was not necessarily the wrong decision, it was the wrong time.
“We do have to deal with this at some point we will have to ramp down but we think now is not the time,” she said.
(Image: Getty Images)
As for whether Wales will follow the dates set out by Boris Johnson, she said Wales will not change any rules before the next review, due on March 4.
“We’ll be making a decision at the next 21 day review on the fourth of March in terms of what our long term strategy is but certainly nothing before March 4. Clearly, what happens in England will now have to play into our ability to deliver a safe future for the for the people of Wales.”
The decisions made by the UK Government will have an impact on Wales as while Wales sets its own Covid rules, some areas like testing are run through and funded by UK Government.
After the Prime Minister’s announcement, Welsh secretary Simon Hart tweeted: “We have to learn to live with Covid. The Prime Minister has outlined a balanced plan to help us achieve that. Mass testing costs around £2 billion per month – surely our resource, funding and effort is at better use with a more targeted approach.
“If Welsh Government want to continue funding blanket testing going forward then that is a decision for them, they already have the adequate resource & funding to do so. This will mean tough decisions against other priorities, but that’s what mature governance is all about.”
In the Commons, Montgomeryshire MP asked the Prime Minister to “reach out” to Mark Drakeford and encourage him to bring the same rules into place in Wales.
“I extend the hand of cooperation to our Scottish administrations, I hope the Welsh administration in Cardiff will see the way forward. As I’ve said before the similarities in our approach outweigh the differences.”
Earlier in the day, the First Minister said: “Any decision to change the existing National Testing Programme would be premature and reckless. Testing has played a pivotal role in breaking chains of transmission and as a surveillance tool helping us detect and respond to emerging variants. It’s essential that this continues. Any decision to effectively turn off the tap on our National Testing Programme, with no future plans in place to reactivate it, would put people at risk. In Wales, we’ll continue to make decisions to protect the health of people based on the scientific evidence available to us.”
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