Vaughan Gething, Minister for Health and Social Services
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
You will be aware that the UK Government has introduced legislation with the primary purpose of enforcing supported isolation in England. I am currently considering whether our current legislation is sufficient to protect the wider public from coronavirus or other high consequence infections or whether we need to make equivalent provisions in Wales.
The evolving 2019-nCoV outbreak, the increasing number of countries reporting cases and the change to the case definition have led to a significant increase in individuals requiring assessment and testing. The aim is to manage as many people as possible outside hospital Emergency Departments. Yesterday the Chief Medical Officer wrote to health boards advising on the importance of immediate implementation of community assessment and testing services and the establishment of Coronavirus Testing Units separate from Emergency Departments.
To date there have been no imported cases of the novel coronavirus to Wales. UK figures on the number of people tested are published daily on the Public Health England website.
The Chief Medical Officer will be updating Assembly Members in person later today to advise on the current situation. I will continue to provide AMs with a written update every Tuesday and more frequently if necessary.