Welsh Government minister Eluned Morgan Eluned Morgan has given an update today on preparations for a coronavirus Christmas.
The fire-break lockdown will end on Monday, November 9, and be replaced by a new set of national rules – but it won’t be known for a couple of weeks, what affect it has had to stem the rise of Covid-19 across the country.
At a Welsh Government coronavirus press conference, Eluned said there were more than 250 cases of covid per 100,000 people in Wales, with some areas having rates higher than 500 cases per 100,000.
The minister, with responsibility for mental health, wellbeing and Welsh language, also said Public Health Wales (PHW) will confirm today a further 1,200 cases of coronavirus, but the actual number will be “much higher”.
In addition there are 1,275 Covid-related patients in hospital, the highest number since late April and close to that month’s peak.
PHW will also report a further 44 deaths today.
While giving updates on the mental health of the nation, after a package of £3m was unveiled to help the most vulnerable, Baroness Morgan was asked if there were any projections on what Christmas may look like this year, to give people a boost.
“The figures we have heard about this morning show we are far from doing that, but we are hoping that this fire-break will go a long way to trying to stem the incidence of the virus.”
“Of course we understand that Christmas is a really important time for families throughout the country and we will be looking at how, ideally in a cross UK way, that we can work together to make sure that people can get together – but there are no guarantees of that this point,” said Baroness Morgan.
“We have also got to consider that a lot of people are alone at Christmas and that is something we need to consider as well in out thought processes.”
