 Good afternoon. Today, I want to bring with the latest news about the vaccination programme in Wales and how we're continuing to speed up the rollout of people across the country. I also want to focus on some new development to support people with long Covid. I'll start by saying once again, and for the avoidance of any doubt, that vaccination is our number one priority. No vaccines are being held back. We're doing everything we can to make vaccines available to everyone in Wales as fast as we can. We've made a good start since the Pfizer vaccine was approved just six weeks ago. The latest figures show almost 176,000 people have had their first dose of the vaccine. More than 10,000 people every day are now receiving their first dose of the vaccine. That's equivalent to seven people being vaccinated every minute in Wales. More than 5% of the Welsh population has now been vaccinated, and with every day that passes, more people are receiving the jab. A week ago, I published our vaccination strategy. This sets out our plans to offer all eligible adults their vaccinations by autumn. We're making good progress towards our first milestone by offering everyone in the first four priority groups of vaccination by mid-Febru. This includes all front-line health and care staff, everyone living and working in care homes, everyone over the age of 70 and over, and the 130,000 people who are in the extremely clinical, vulnerable group, otherwise known as a shielding group. Every week, our vaccination programme is getting faster. As more clinics are opened and more vaccines are available for the teams of healthcare professionals who are giving vaccines across our country. 28 vaccination centres are open today, and this will increase to 45. There are more than 100 general practices providing vaccines. This will rise to over 250 over the next fortnight. We're developing community vaccination centres, which will bring together GPs, dentists, pharmacists and optometrists to deliver the vaccine. Nine out of ten of our vaccination centres are open seven days a week, and GP-led clinics will also be open on evenings and weekends. This week, our vaccination programme will move up another gear. Supplies of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine have increased markedly. We expect to receive almost double the amount of vaccine this week as we had in the first fortnight of the AstraZeneca vaccine being available. This means more people over 80 and more people living and working in care homes will be vaccinated in GP practices and by community nurses who are staffing the 14 mobile units. We're now vaccinating almost a thousand care home residents every day. On Monday, the Welsh Ambulance Service confirmed that it offers vaccination to all of its frontline staff. More than 60% of staff had already received their first dose, again with more being vaccinated every day. This week, we will provide a further 60,000 Pfizer vaccines for use in our mass vaccination centres, almost double the number available in the previous week. Every vaccine we receive is going to people who need them. Vaccines are not being held back. Every day, we are vaccinating more and more people. A small army of people is working with our NHS around the clock to make sure we're all protected against this terrible virus. And we have very low wasted rates in Wales. Only around 1% of vaccines have not been used. We remain in a race against the virus, not so with other countries in the UK. When we look, though, at the pace of vaccination in Wales, our rate is well above those of most other European countries. I now want to turn to a new development to help support people who are suffering what is commonly known as long COVID. Most people who have COVID-19 will feel better in a few days or weeks and go on to make a full recovery. For some people, their symptoms will last much longer. Nice, the health watchdog, is to find long COVID as lasting for more than 12 weeks. Research suggests that as many as one in 10 people who have had COVID-19 could be affected. The symptoms range from fatigue and breathlessness to not being able to think straight, chest and muscle pain. For some people, it can be a cycle of improving and then feeling worse again. Today, we're launching a new app, the first of its kind, as part of the widest support available to people who are experiencing the long-term effects of coronavirus. The bilingual app has been developed by our NHS Wales respiratory health group, and it provides people with a personal coach to help them on their road to recovery. It features more than 100 videos and links to advice and allows people to record their symptoms, track their progress and learn to manage their symptoms at home with support. Therapists, psychologists, dieticians and consultants have all provided advice together with a general practice lead. Before I take questions, I do want to say a few words about the national situation. We are now starting to see real falls in cases of coronavirus across Wales, including in North Wales. Nationally, the incidence rate has fallen in cases in 100,000 people for the first time in a long time. While cases are still high and the situation is still serious, everyone has put in so much hard work and sacrifice into following the rules and doing the right thing to protecting yourself and each other over these last few weeks. We are making real and increasing progress with our vaccination programme, but we continue to need your help. It's so important that we all carry on following the rules and doing the right thing. That means staying at home, protecting our NHS and saving lives. Together, we all have a part to play in keeping Wales safe. Thank you. I'll now take questions from journalists and as usual, all the answers will be broadcast on our social media channels. My first question today is from James Crichton-Smith from ITV Wales. Mr, thank you. I want to start with alleged breaches of COVID rules in the Senate by Senate members or on the Senate estate. Paul Davis and Darren Millar said, we recognise that what was part of today's work would not be seen to be following the spirit of COVID rules at the time. What damage do you think the actions of Paul Davis, Alan Davis and Darren Millar have had on the overall public health messaging of COVID, particularly the one for the First Minister, of do what you should, not what you can? Two broad points to make here, James. The first is, I'm not aware of all the facts, what hasn't happened, there's bound to be an investigation of fuller understanding of what did take place. As you know, I've been the subject of press stories myself where some people made comments without wanting to understand the facts or not being interested in them. So I don't think I should then lay in on an issue like this where I'm simply not aware of all the facts. The Senate authorities are conducting their own investigation and I'm sure there'll be interest in that. The second point is that there is a broader point here and it's the one that I think you're really making and that is that any challenge, any sense of people not all being in this together isn't helpful in terms of the message that we all need to follow. So I can't be clear, the First Minister's been really clear. We all have a part to play in doing the right thing. So that's why we ask people not to mix with people from outside your own household if you don't have to. You should avoid it. The rules are clear. There are support bubbles available but apart from that, there shouldn't be indoor mixing between households. It's about good hand hygiene. It's about wearing a face covering when you need to and it's also about good ventilation. And I'd hope that not just people who are the subject of the current interest in the story but all of us would reflect that the more consistent we are in the method we give to the public and in what we then do, the better off we'll all be and the sooner we can get out of the current crisis that still affects all of us. Thank you. There is a suggestion that Senate members involve pressured catering staff to provide them alcohol. Is that the sort of culture that exists between Senate members and staff on the Senate of the State? Well again, as I said at the start, I don't know all the facts. However, what I would say, and I think this is quite important, is that the last thing we'd want to see happen is an investigation comes out and it's only staff who essentially get thrown under the bus. Everyone needs to look at what they've done. We need to understand the full impact on what's happened and not rush to judgement. So I'm not going to get drawn in to the hypothetical question you ask. What I will say though is in my own interaction with Senate Commission staff, I've always been polite and respectful and the people that I'm around have been polite and respectful as well. I certainly value the work that our staff do. These are working people earning their own living and I try to treat them as I would want to be treated myself, whether they're catering or security and I hope that's something that members regard as their politics would all agree is the right way to behave. Thank you James and I've got Owen Clarke from BBC Wales. Fynau'r gweinidog i chi. Do you mention a forthcoming and ongoing investigation will establish the facts but do you believe as at least a first step that those members involved in that meeting should either step down or be suspended while that investigation takes place in order to secure public confidence in the rules that you say are so important for us all to adhere to? Well the Labour group has suspended Alan Davis. That's to allow an investigation to take place into what's happened. It's a neutral act. It's not a judgement. It's to allow those full facts to be understood and explored. It's a matter for other groups to decide whether they think they should do something similar but I think the Labour group has done the right thing and it's important as I say this isn't a judgement on the member for Blaine and Gwent. This is really about allowing that investigation to take place. So there are questions for other people to answer rather than me I think on the conduct of other political groups. I just need to be clear that as the health minister this is a health crisis and an economic one and the way through this is for all of us to pull together and to do the right thing. Diolch yn fawr, thank you. On several occasions yesterday on vaccine rollout you said you were confident that seven in ten people over eight years old and seven in ten people who live and work in care homes will have received their first jab by the end of this week. Can you share with us the operational data perhaps that you base that confidence on and can you commit to publishing the data perhaps on Monday that allows us to independently assess whether those figures have been reached? So my understanding of the data is the majority of care home residents have already had a vaccine in that around about seven in ten staff working in a care home have had their vaccine on the first dose of the vaccine. On the other figures I need to see what those are but in the weekly data that we're going to publish the dashboard I referred to previously and I issued a written statement about this at the start of this week we're going to start publishing that information from tomorrow so every week there will be an update. We're obviously also publishing the daily figures and there's been a significant increase again. We went up 10,000 yesterday's figures we've now gone to further 14,000 of the figures we published today so the broad rate is increasing and as I said in my opening the significant increase in AstraZeneca supplies gives us confidence will make a really significant dent in the number of people over 80 who still are awaiting their vaccine I'd want to be in a position to be as open as possible if I can't do that on the Monday then I will make sure we cover that off in the information we're committed to publishing every week so you don't need to go looking at the data and the information because we'll be openly providing that so people can see the progress we're making with those two priority cohorts and of course overall number of people receiving their vaccines and I'm confident enough to be able to say that because we already know that Powys is already issuing invitation letters to over 70s because of the progress it's made in care homes in over 80s and other health boards expect to follow over the next week or so and Powys is picking up and I'm confident that the information we publish over the next week or two will confirm that we've done exactly what we set out to do thank you, Owen I've now got Mark Smith from Wales Online Thank you very much indeed Health Minister it appears different parts of Wales delivering the vaccine to its patients at slightly different speeds health boards are also not publishing the same level of data on how many people in each priority group have been given their first dose with this in mind how is the Welsh Government trying to get consistency between health boards across Wales in the role of this vaccine? Well we're looking for a consistent approach but it's a simple fact that at the start of this when we only had the Pfizer vaccine of course and there was a mass vaccination centre in each health board Powys was able to get on and do a disproportionately larger number of their residents to see them at Powys health board that they've been able to do so and they then supported health boards to their north, south and west in terms of their ability to provide additional options for them that's why Powys are in the first position of offering over 70s appointment letters and that's really good news there is though a broadly consistent approach what we have to understand though is that there are individual challenges around that for example here in Cardiff we know that the initial mass vaccination centre had to pause its delivery for a couple of days because it had a minor COVID outbreak within its staff that meant activity couldn't take place so it was then in a different position to other health boards as I said an answer to Owen Clarke will be publishing regular weekly data so people don't need to go searching for the information because we'll be providing it and we've done that from the outset in the way we've regularly published so people don't need to ask for your information request because we're providing it we've been open with the data we have we'll continue to do that and as well as understanding what each health board are doing to achieve their approach it also depends on local relationships with general practice, with pharmacies I can say though I'm delighted with the response from our primary healthcare professionals there's a real thirst to get involved and to help and we're going to see that as the programme continues to increase and the pace continues to move on so I'm confident we'll see high levels of treatment in every health board but we're also taking opportunities in the vaccination programme board that I attend every week to look and to learn from what takes place around Wales both to share problems but also to look to share answers as well because we really are all in this together Thank you very much indeed and secondly as you mentioned earlier on public health Wales figures published yesterday showed that the case rate per 100,000 people has now gone below 300 for the first time in a long time however the positivity rate of testing is still reasonably high at 17% with these two important figures in mind do you think there is any chance of restrictions being eased ahead of the next Welsh Government review on January 29th or do you believe a more prolonged and strict lockdown approach is needed to prove effective Well I can't prejudge the Welsh Government decision but what I would say is and I've said this before no one should expect any sort of significant easing at the end of the next review period at the end of January our case rates are asked to relatively high it's good news that we've gone under 300 cases per 100,000 the progress is in the right direction at present we've also seen a drop in the positivity rates it wasn't that long ago that nearly one in four people who tested were testing positive too so we're seeing a reduction in that positivity rate in a material amount but it's still really quite high so our case rates remain high our positivity rates remain high and as you know Mark our NHS is still under significant pressure we've seen a slight easing on the pressure and critical care but it's still operating at nearly 150% of its capacity so there is a very slight easing so that's why we've got to be really cautious because if we come out of level 4 too soon and too fast we could well see a rebound in Covid rates and we can end up doing something that overwhelms our health service with all the harm that that would cause to our staff and people who need our health service so people shouldn't expect any significant easing at the end of this current phase but the government will have to look at all of the detail, all of the information and obviously take account of the advice we'll receive from the chief medical officer and our scientific advisers you can expect to hear from the first minister once the government has concluded that review thank you Mark I've now got Dan Bevan from LBC thank you health minister good afternoon there's going to be a vote next week in the Welsh parliament about legislation that could postpone the senate election I understand that the Welsh government's stance on this is that you don't want the election to be postponed nevertheless you're pressing on with this emergency bill considering that there have been elections held in democracies far bigger than Wales's during the height of the pandemic and of course mail-in voting could be a lot more important in this election as well there's really no reason why the election couldn't be held on May 6 is there and if there is then what could you expect would be to postpone it I just don't think it's sensible or responsible at all to say there's no reason why the election couldn't go ahead it's the clear preference of the Welsh government for the election to proceed as planned for our democracy to be reviewed for the people to make a judgement on who they want to represent them and make decisions for them here in Wales for the next phase of the unfinished Covid crisis because even by the first week of May we can be confident that there'll still be a great many more difficult choices to make before we can say the pandemic is over and before we're then into what I believe a full term of recovery from the economic crisis that Covid has caused as well as the health crisis now this is a piece of legislation to guard against the possibility that Covid rates are so significant that we can't have an election and if we're in the same position that we were say or even are today or a few weeks ago I think it would be difficult to have an election not necessarily impossible but part of the challenge are very practical down where in engaging around this work the government and the Senate's commission members at the Senate's commission staff have engaged also with local government election officers who have to run these elections it's not quite as simple as being able to turn the tap on and move everyone to having a postal ballot so there are real practical challenges to go through but it is absolutely a last resort to have a delay in the election and I very much look forward to being able to understand and receive the judgement on electors in Cardiff South and Pynarth and right across Wales and to renew democracy here in Wales for the next difficult and challenging term ahead but I think we can do so with a sense of optimism too because of the hope that the vaccines are giving us Thank you and the First Minister during FMQs yesterday at least appeared to hints that Wales could get more of the population share of the vaccine because the population here is older and thicker than the population in England can you provide a bit more clarity on that any details of conversations that you've been having with the respective devolved administrations of Michael Gove on this Well not just the conversation with Michael Gove that the First Minister has been having and also with other First Ministers across the UK but this really comes from the Prime Minister saying that there should be an expectation for the first four priority groups to have all received their first vaccine by the middle of February because we have a disproportionately higher number of people in those first four groups so we could undertake the same population vaccination as every other part of the UK but we wouldn't achieve the same amount for those first four priority groups being protected Now as well as conversations First Ministers had our officials are having regular conversations with counterparts in both the Department for Health and Social Care in the UK Government but also the business department that is leading on the procurement I've had several conversations in the Dean's army the UK Vaccinations Minister and his indication to me is that we expect to have enough AstraZeneca supply for Wales to be able to achieve that expectation by the middle of February Now that I think would be good news and that does rely of course on the vaccine supply coming to us I think through this week you'll see a continued acceleration in our delivery you'll then see a further acceleration in the week that follows and we'll see the expected increase in vaccination supply so it's certainly a matter that I've raised as well as the First Minister and if there is any change that will be up front with people about what that means so again transparency I think really does matter to be able to set out what we're doing with the vaccines when they're received here in Wales Thank you Dan and I've got Thomas Evans from S. Pedwarech We've spoken to the owner of a public house in Pembrokeshire who's not received any financial support from the Welsh Government since before level 4 restrictions were introduced back in mid December Is this really fair and what more can the Welsh Government do to support these businesses if the lockdown is extended? Well as you know we've got the most generous package of support for businesses within the United Kingdom The economy minister has set out what those packages are and we're applying for that support as we speak and I think the important thing here is that we recognise that Covid is an economic crisis as well as a public health one I can't come on in the individual business that you refer to and I'm sure you'll understand why I'm not aware of all the facts but we'll continue to look at what we're able to do if the restrictions continue when you look again at the money that we have available to us we'll also need to take account of the fact that if the UK Government provide additional support to businesses in England we would expect an additional share of money to be provided to Wales that would give us additional resources to be able to support businesses and public services here in Wales so we've already set out what we're able to do at this point in time we can't review what we're able to do financially to support businesses and as I say this Government recognises full well there is a public health crisis and it's also an economic one which is why I say that the next Parliament term will be a recovery as well as a recovery of our healthcare system Diolch am hynny and today as you mentioned in the opening statement sees the launch of a new app to help against Covid-19 this is another app launched during the pandemic what are the costs of developing these applications and how will their success be measured well I don't have the individual figures for the app development in front of me but it's been worked in by our NHS Wales respiratory health group a range of different healthcare professionals people involved in the third sector all looking at how to support people and we'll judge the success in it partly from the feedback of members of the public it's really important to listen to them and that's a broader point that we've been driving through the whole of this term to understand from members of the public themselves for them to report the measures that matter to them the experience of matters to them as well and because we're living through the pandemic face to face time with healthcare professionals is now rather more difficult we're actually looking to provide as much information more remotely now that doesn't mean there'll never be face to face healthcare actually that relationship based healthcare is still really important to us but many of us also expect to be able to access support and information in a more remote manner those of us who have smartphones and the correct majority of us do expect to be able to do different parts of our daily living in a different way with the devices that many of us have this is about recognising when the public already are but also recognising this is a rising challenge that we'll be living with for many years because we don't fully understand the impact of Covid-19 in longer term consequences so we're learning and doing as we go listing and working with the patient listing and working with our healthcare professionals and we'll be interested in both the number of people that use it they're reporting whether it makes a difference to them if they're a hard click or outcomes that help us to understand its overall impact thank you Thomas and I've got Harry Evans from DailyPost Fel dda, gwneud o'r cyffin earlier this week the British Medical Association said they were deeply concerned about vaccine or strategy in Wales they described the decision not to use all the supplies at the earlier state hospitals of their ordering. How do you respond to these concerns? I've responded several times to these concerns that I think are now old news they're responding at the time with some clarity that's been provided since then by the First Minister about that interview that was done several days ago now we're very clear we're not holding back vaccines that isn't the strategy that the Welsh Government has ever followed we're getting vaccines out as quickly as possible as quickly as our healthcare system can deliver them and I'd hope that if the BMA were asked today they'd recognise that clarification and recognise that as we've provided and organised more vaccination centres across the country our infrastructure means we can deliver more vaccinations and it's BMA members working alongside unison, RCN, GMB, UNITE and many other healthcare professionals who are now delivering an increasingly rapid roller of the vaccinations here in Wales that's why it's good news we've moved from 10,000 vaccines being delivered the day before to about 14,000 vaccines delivered yesterday and I expect to see further progress to the rest of this week so that's good news for all of our healthcare professionals who are both receiving the vaccine as well as those healthcare professionals who are delivering it, good news for the whole public too as well Dill, and it's been claimed that the mass vaccination centre in venue Cymru at Sandidno is only working at half capacity operating three days a week instead of six because of a lack of vaccine why aren't more vaccines being sent to these centres? Well, I'm not aware of the allocations that are made about the length of time it's operating what I will say though is we're putting out as much of the Pfizer vaccine as our vaccination centres can deliver with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine though that is reliant on supplies we're getting supplies on a week to week basis so we're going as fast as the vaccine supply allows us to if you have got more detailed questions you haven't had a conversation with Betsi Cadwaladr health board about how to make sure after the call Harry we can get someone to talk to you at the detail of the specific vaccination centre that you mentioned Thank you, I've got Rob Taylor from rexham.com Good afternoon, taking the drinks issue away from the incident and to process the regulations don't appear to contain anything that exempts the centre of the state from the rules or gives it the unusual privilege of having a period of as you referenced self investigation in simple terms a local pub or someone driving to a country park suffering an alleged Covid breach couldn't really tell police or council enforcement to come back in several weeks as they wanted to hold their investigation first can you clarify what makes the centre the special case and what other entities are similarly able to hold internal investigations? The centre isn't a special case it's a workplace with a licence there are other workplaces in similar positions every public house, every members club is a workplace that holds a licence as well so if Cardiff council enforcement and environmental health officers want to talk with Senedd commission who run the building, not the Welsh Government that I'm sure they talk about what they're doing so from my point of view I'm not responsible for the investigation it's quite right that I shouldn't be I'm responsible for the delivery of healthcare the strategy and our response to Covid and I really do believe that everyone who's watching not just this story but understanding what it does and doesn't mean needs to recognise that none of us are in possession of the full facts and actually what we can't do is saying if other people aren't doing the right thing I'm no longer prepared to do the right thing as well because that would mean that this crisis will last for longer with more harm being caused so again I say to everybody the important thing is for us all to do the right thing if we all do the right thing we'll get through this as quickly as possible we'll also reduce the harm that's caused and many more of us will reach the end of this journey together Thank you Data coming from Israel indicates that single first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and a longer wait for the second may not have the desired or predicted impact can you give any further detail on those recent results and if Welsh Government feel a quicker two dose strategy is better could you and perhaps would you act independently from the UK Government policy on that? Well it's not about a UK Government policy it's actually the advice we receive from the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation they're an independent expert group they provide advice and then each of the four Governments in the UK have to decide what to do with that advice we also of course get advice from our Chief Medical Officers and the JCVI and all four of our Chief Medical Officers have given advice to Governments that has been followed in all four Governments despite all the four different political leaderships and that is the current strategy we have of the interval between the first dose and the second one I have seen the story briefly about data from Israel it isn't clear even from the story about the impact on actual effectiveness but if there is a change in data both from what Israel around the world and what we also understand here then of course I'd expect the JCVI to take account of that and once that advice if it's revised is provided I'll then have a choice to make as a Minister and it's my decision to make because a Minister here at the Wales it's not a UK Government policy choice it's how we respond to independent expert advice we get Minister still make decisions and we're making these choices it is what at times a confusing landscape with many people claiming to be experts many people claiming they know more than other people and yet actually as Ministers you have to look at the best available advice and then you have to decide that's my job and it's a job I'll continue to do for the remainder of this crisis until of course we reach the centre of the election and the people will have their say on who they should be Thank you, I've now got Tom Magner Thank you Health Minister I asked your colleague the First Minister last Friday about doubts over accurate use of the up-to-date addition of the JCVI vaccine priority list as it refers to unpaid carers he essentially said that unpaid carers would need to make themselves known and prove that they are unpaid carers before receiving their COVID-19 vaccine I know that you did tweet confirmation the afternoon before that unpaid carers are in Band 6 but the lack of reference to the critical footnote 3 to Band 6 where the reference to unpaid carers appears has caused and still continues to cause major viewer confusion so do you agree with your colleague the First Minister the responsibilities clearly and completely on unpaid carers too as they used to say advance and be recognised Well the challenge here Tom is that we don't hold a central register of unpaid carers and the challenge then is how do we then identify people we're working together actually I've already asked my poster to make sure that we advance this work but well before we get to priority 6 to understand with carers groups themselves how we can accurately or as accurately as possible identify people who are unpaid carers and the challenge and you'll know this Tom as well is that many people who act as unpaid carers or a list anyway they haven't sought help they haven't had a carers assessment they aren't on a caring related benefit so we have got a challenge in how we accurately identify people and this will mean that we'll need to work with each other on it and I don't think there's going to be a way through without having some carers needing to identify themselves I mean to think about how that's done though because the last thing I want is it will have a large number of calls being made from people who are concerned to general practice pharmacists or others because actually we're trying to make sure that our system isn't overwhelmed that's what's important we work through this with carers organisations and our LHS to how as fairly and as promptly we can do this and then of course we'll provide clarity well in advance of reaching priority group 6 and of course Tom we'll make sure that you and your listings are aware Thank you for that can I just explore things a little further on the 12th of October last year in answer to me you welcomed the launch of unpaid carer ID cards in Ceredigion I'm assuming that the first ministers announced and then unpaid carers across Wales are now ready it appears from your first answer that they're not many of our viewers will believe that that's the case because after four and a half years or so the social services wellbeing Wales Act recognising the need for assessments of unpaid carers is this all known in the Welsh population as we reported in late November are our effectively our viewers back at square one in terms of being properly included in society especially in vaccination measures No I don't think that's true at all Tom and we've recognised throughout this crisis the role that unpaid carers play in particular during the crisis in supporting people who would otherwise be left on their own we recognise the anxiety those carers will have not just for their own health but actually for the health and wellbeing of the person they're caring for and there are more people who are now undertaking unpaid carer roles so throughout the whole of this term and beyond we've been trying to have a new settlement for carers for people to be able to come forward with a young old middle age to make sure that carers recognise their own role but also the country recognises the role the carers play and I think we've made real progress I certainly wouldn't say we're back to square one there are always challenges therefore the recognises that contribution as well as making sure people are aware of the legal entitlement they have to a carers assessment so there'll always be more work for us to do Tom but I definitely think the pandemic has heightened not lessened the public awareness of the role that unpaid carers play in our society Thank you Tom Finally we have Nathan Shusmith from the speaker You mentioned in your opening statement that cases per hundred 100,000 people have fallen to just under 300 That's down from around 649 cases per 100,000 people five weeks ago Well this case rate is higher than Scotland but significantly lower than England and Northern Ireland As cases continue to fall in Wales could any potential easing of restrictions in the coming weeks and months in Wales be delayed if cases remain high across the border No we're largely looking at the position here in Wales Now of course we need to recognise as we always have done there is always going to be some cross border transfer because there are economic and social and community links that go across our border at various places not just in north east Wales of course but all the way across our border in mid Wales and south east Wales too What we're trying to do there was currently telling us what the broad public health situation is telling us and that will lead to the decisions that ministers make over the coming weeks as we review our level 4 measures I indicated earlier people shouldn't expect there's going to be a significant easing of those measures because case rates are still high our positivity rates are still high even though they've fallen from the much more extraordinary measures they reached a few weeks ago We also know the pressure on our health service means that we don't want to see another bump in cases which will inevitably lead to more people needing to come into hospital for care and treatment and that will inevitably lead to more people losing their lives in larger number as well so all those factors have to play into where we are and will then make the right choice for Wales Thank you Finally a new study by Biontech and Pfizer has found that the COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be effective against the new strain of coronavirus Would you welcome that and what would you say to people that are still not 100% sure whether they want to take a vaccine How confident are you that a vaccine take up is high So it's always good news to hear more about the effectiveness of the vaccines that we currently have and have been approved by our independent regulator A concern that potential new strains may affect vaccine effectiveness is obviously a key concern for ministers and all four governments across the UK not just a concern for me here in Wales so we continue to take interest in those new variants that's why we've taken pretty extraordinary measures in terms of international travel because of the concern around new variants and what they might mean for us here I'd say to anyone who's watching this is concerned about having a COVID vaccine the decision to regulate and approve for use any of the COVID vaccines isn't in the hands of a politician anywhere here within the United Kingdom there's an independent regulator that looks at all of the advice to clinical trials to decide whether the vaccine is safe and effective it's only if that independent regulator that MHRA approves that vaccine that it can be used so people are scared and concerned about fake news and anti-vax story on social media and others I'd ask people to look again at the evidence and to look again at the harm that COVID has caused if we can find a way to prevent more hospitalisation find a way to prevent deaths then we should be prepared to do so I certainly look forward to having my vaccine when it's my turn and ask everyone when it's your turn please be ready, please have the vaccine because you'll be taking care of yourselves and other people you may otherwise never get the chance to meet thank you all very much and I look forward to seeing you and talking to you again next week if not sooner