 Wel prynhawn dda, unwaith eto i chi gyd. Y week ago, when I last spoke to you, I described how coronavirus was waking up for the winter. Well it has well and truly woken up. In just a few short weeks, coronavirus has spread to every part of Wales and is circulating widely. Like many other countries across Europe and in the United Kingdom, we are facing a very serious situation. I want to show you now a short video created by the Sile Data Bank team at Swansea University Medical School, which shows clearly how this has happened so quickly in just over six weeks. As you see the video, you will see that at the start of August, there was hardly any coronavirus in Wales. Just a few cases in Wrexham and in the south. In September, as it starts, you can see cases beginning to spread in south Wales and some clusters in mid Wales too. And as the month goes on, the virus spreads into the south Wales valleys. The lighter the colours you can see, the more cases there are. Coronavirus spreads quickly across south Wales with more and more people testing positive. And as September ends, we see cases moving across north Wales as well. By the beginning of October, we have cases in every part of our country. Now all the indicators we keep a close eye on show that we have reached a critical point. The incidence rate in Wales is now higher than 100 cases per 100,000 people. The R number for Wales is back up to 1.4. And these figures mean that around 2,500 people are being infected every day. And the rise in that number is getting faster every week. Now I want to be clear that these figures would have been much higher if we hadn't acted quickly and early to put local and national measures in place. Thanks to everything you have done, we are still in a better place in Wales than in any other part of the United Kingdom. But we are already seeing the increase in cases in the community leading to an increase in people admitted to hospital. Already last week there were 500 people in hospital beds suffering from coronavirus. Earlier this week that 500 had risen to 700. Yesterday it was over 800. Our critical care units are full and this week there has been a marked increase in the number of deaths reported by Public Health Wales. Week after week I have spoken from this podium reflecting on those people who have been lost and the grieving families that are left behind. And it is a very sad day to report to you that that number is on the rise again here in Wales. Now throughout the last seven months our NHS has done a fantastic job caring for people with coronavirus. But this has come at a real cost, a cost to normal services and a cost in the demands we place on our frontline staff in health and social care. And now we are going to have to ask them to do yet more. Once again our hospital beds are filling up with people with symptoms and those people who look after them will be there to continue to care. And that's because as hard as we have all been working together to slow down the spread of the virus it is now moving faster than the measures we have put in place locally and nationally can contain it. I have to tell you that we face a very serious situation today in Wales. Unless we are able to get coronavirus back under control there is a real risk that our NHS will be overwhelmed. And if that happens then even larger numbers of people will die as a consequence. None of us want to see that. There are no easy options to bring the virus back under control. Once again we will all have to act together to bring the levels down and to keep them down over the winter ahead. Here in the Welsh Government we are looking very carefully at introducing a time limited fire break also known sometimes as a circuit breaker of the type recommended by SAGE, the UK's expert scientific advisory group and by our own advisors here in Wales. This would be a short, sharp shock to the virus which could turn back the clock, slowing down its spread and buying us more time and vital capacity in the health service. A fire break would also however mean a short, sharp shock to all our lives. We would all have to stay at home once again to save those lives but this time it would be for weeks and not for months. We are considering a two or three week fire break. The shorter the period the sharper the measures will have to be. A successful fire break would reset the virus at a lower level. Together with a new set of national rules for the whole of Wales after the fire break period is over we would have slowed the virus down enough we think to get us through to Christmas. Now these are incredibly difficult decisions and we have not yet come to a final conclusion about whether a fire break is the best way to act. Ministers here will be meeting throughout the weekend to discuss this further and we will report the outcome of those decisions to you on Monday. Let me say again that we are considering all this because the situation is so serious that we have no option but to look at new and different ways to keep Wales and to keep you safe. Doing nothing is not an option. Diolch yn fawr iawn i'n waith eto i chi gyd. I'll turn now to take some questions and as usual all the answers will be broadcast live on our own social media channels. This afternoon the first question comes from Teleri Llynjones at BBC Wales. Prif Weinidog. Diolch yn fawr iawn os gawn i'r ateb i'r cwestiynau i fod yn Gymraeg hefyd o sgol ychynnau. You've been briefing local authorities, unions and other key stakeholders for days now about your plans for a circuit breaker. If early intervention is key to getting ahead of this virus, why wait until Monday to make an announcement? Well, Teleri, you're right. I spent all day yesterday in meetings, meeting the whole 22 local authority leaders, an extraordinary meeting of the social partnership council and so on. What Sage says to us about a circuit breaker is that it can be used in a planned and preemptive way rather than a reactive way and that is the way we are trying to go about it. Not reacting to events in the way that I think you might have been describing by doing it in a hurry but doing it in the planned way that Sage says this device could be used and that's why the timing of things has been the way it has. Allowing us time to talk to all those others who have to play a part in this decision making sure that the things that will eventually have to be decided by ministers here in the Cabinet of the Welsh Government. Will be informed by the views, the questions, the considerations of all those people who have a part to play in that decision. Wel, ddói oeddwn ni'n cawr gada'r aelodau ar adroddodau lleol a Anghymru, gada'r bobl anormais business, gada'r yn debau ac anablan, trwy yw dyddwn ni'n cawr gada'r bobl i esbonio, ysafolfa ni'n myneb i am a Anghymru ac i clywed oedd nhw am beth oedd nhw isieni feddwl amdano ac yn llunio dagillydd i wneud. O'r seidio'n dweud, i defnyddio rywfath o circuit breaker yw rhywbeth ni'n gallu cynllunio. Dost i'n rhaid i ni wneud e, mewn hast, ni'n gallu cymryd amser i feddwl amdano y circuit breaker ac i cwrg gyda bobl eraill i tenu'n nhw i fewn fel i'n triall i wneud e am y Anghymru pan i'n weineb i penderfyniadau anodd fel hyn a dynna beth oeddwn ni'n triall. Diolch yn fawr iawn. Is this what we can expect for the coming months, coming in and out of local and circuit breaker lockdowns? Are you confident that this will do the trick and is this key to making sure we can perhaps have more freedom over Christmas maybe? Well, very important to say, a circuit breaker is not a magic wand of any sort. It doesn't make coronavirus disappear. What it does is to buy us time to be able to manage the difficulties we face over a longer period and in a better planned way. As I said in my opening statement, our ambition is that if we do, and if we do decide on a circuit breaker, that will be sufficient to take us through to Christmas. I can't offer a guarantee. The sage paper doesn't offer a guarantee that it would not be necessary to take further measures later in the winter. But I'm focused on the immediate situation, the immediate difficulties faced by our national health service, by the continuing spread of the virus in all parts of Wales, and we have to act to deal with that now in this planned and preemptive way. And provided, and this is the most important point that I have to make, provided we all play our part, then that will give us the breathing space we need to be able to get through this together to Christmas without further disruptions of this sort. Well, just to vote in clear, a myr cyfnod o'r circuit breaker, diddy hwnna ddim a'n creu sef y ffordd bremae coronavirus wedi deflanu, a on main rhoi amser i ni, a amser i delio gyda'r problemau i'n mynebu yn a maes iechyd. A i delio gyda'r ysiedeinad ar fawr ysledled Cymru ni weld ar hyn o bryd, ac i defnyddio ar amser i paratoi da'r gilydd am y dyfodol, a hwnna i'w'r point pwysica. Bydd o'r rhaid i ni'n neud pethau da'r gilydd, trwy'r neud beth ni'n feddwl amdano os bydd hwnna a penderfyniad ola, ni'n gallu di ni'n feddwl llwyddo i cael llwyber rymddo nawr ac anadolig. Ar ôl anadolig, fel bydd rhaid i ni just wneb i ysafolfa fel byddau pan ni'n cael rhaid at y point na. At y gallu fan hynny, ac mae'n sgrifetd y cwestiynau'r cwestiynau gwahanol o'r cyffredinan hwnna o'i erbyr. Roeddwn i'n rhan oedd ysgrifetdau gyda Gareth Horton eich bobl yn gweinio y cafeyn nymporth, ac mae eich cyfrifiadau yw'n ddigon ni'n gweithio'r ciferau hefyd. Mae'n cyfrifiadau yw sy'n gweithio'n gweithio na'r dryfn ar gael. Ond mae'n credu nhw'n cyfrifiadau a'r cyfrifiadau o'n gweithio'r cyfrifiadau. Dwi'n rydyn ni'n gallu i'r Gavyn a bod ni'n ffordd yn ystod o'r hunau o'r chyfnodau ymddangos yn ymddangos? Dwi'n rydyn ni'n gallu i'n rydyn ni'n gallu i'n gweithio i gafodd â'r Gavyn i'r gweithio i gyd, ond dyfodd y rhesysau arall i chi'n ddiddordeb yw i'n ddysgu'n gwneud oherwydd yma ymddangos oherwydd ddiddordeb yn ymddangos i'r gweithio i'n ddullig i'n meddwl i'r gweithio i gweithio i gael gweithio i'r cabarnet Rwy'n credu i ddechrau'r gwrthoedd gan gynnig o'r dechrau. Y cyfnod drosio bryd y dyfodol mewn teulu a'r cyfun o'r cyfrannu cymryd. Rydyn ni'n rfulfan i'r cefnod o'r dda i'n gyfrannu hwnnw i'r awwngweithio ym heb yn meddwl ymargrill. Fe hwnnw i gael i'r cyfrannu gyfysg mirror o'r cyfyrdd yma yn welwyr. ac Maen nhw'n gwneud yw'n meddwl gwysig wedi'i gwneud ymlaen i'r Ministerhau Aelodau bobl, a Rebecca Evans, y Ddau bydd y Ministerhau arferach, parwoddoddoddoddoddoddyn ni wedi'i adroddoriaeth i ddweud cyllideb gael ymddangos ymf落ch oiteitd ar ddiweddol yng nghymru honno'u langgros i byddai'r cyflwyll yma yn derbyn ni weithio i yna i g senzaig beth o'r salud i gael byddai eich hawdd ymlaen i gael yn brosio arwad â'r hadn. Felly, rydw i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n ffordd 140 miliwn ar y ffazor 3 o'r Ffyrdd Rhywunol Gweithgol. Ond rwy'n gwybod i'r ffyrdd o'r ffyrdd o'r ffyrdd o'r ffyrdd o'r ffyrdd. A'r ffyrdd o'r bwysig o'r cyfwyr, o'r gwahodd, o'r gweithio'r gweithio'n gyfwyrd, oedd gennym ni'n gwybod i'r ddechrau'r cyfan i ddweud o'r ffyrdd o'r gweithgol, oherwydd o'r ffyrdd o'r gweithgol o'r gweithgol. Thank you. Another question really is about the practicalities of any circuit breaker, and I hear that you are saying that you haven't made a final decision yet. But assuming that something goes ahead and it's a Wales-only circuit break or fire break, how would that work given and notwithstanding the travel ban and non-essential travel, but the huge amount of essential cross-border travel from people who live and work on both sides? Well, it would work, Adrian, as it worked back in March and April of this year, because essential travel was possible even at the most serious moment of the national lockdown. And what we plan to do is to replicate as closely as possible the situation that people face then, because that will be familiar to people. It won't be identical because there are other things we have to think of seven months on, but if we were to be in this position, then people will find it pretty familiar from what they faced, of course, for longer back then. And essential travel and key workers and that sort of thing will be accommodated, this time, as we were able to accommodate it back at the end of March and through the month of April. Adrian, thank you very much. Drosoleth i Adam Hale, a PA. Ychwanegwch i ni, Doug. Will you please illustrate what people could see during a potential fire break in terms of what aspects of normal use you could see restrictions placed on them? Will it close pubs and bars, stock contact spot, as we've seen elsewhere in the UK? Because a lack of detail here now could lead to a pretty anxious weekend for members of public and businesses, couldn't it? Well, Adam, I anticipate really that I'll get a number of questions from colleagues this morning asking me to speculate on the decisions that we will make by Monday. And I'm really not going to do that, because what I'm saying to people in Wales is that we are actively considering this as one of the things we could do to turn back the tide of the virus. We will be working on this throughout the rest of today and all over the weekend. And when we come to decisions, the first people to know about them will be you, the people who are watching this broadcast and wondering about what will happen. And I don't think it is helpful for me to anticipate those decisions, because they're not yet made and they may not be made. If we can't get everything in place as we need it to be, then we will have to think of whether there is another. And a different course of action we could follow. So this morning is a morning for explaining to people why we are facing the decisions we face, the decisions themselves are yet to come. Thank you. And I'm wondering if you've had any discussions since Wednesday with any UK ministers about the travel ban on places in the UK with high levels of coronavirus. And considering the warring words between Westminster and yourselves over the past few days, including comments you made last night at a later event about Boris Johnson being dangerous for the UK in a different context, of course. But is it safe to say that your relationship with the Prime Minister is dead in the water? I wouldn't describe it as that myself. Adam, in fact, I have had a letter from the Prime Minister, which came in at the end of yesterday. I thought it was a very reasonably toned letter. I failed to persuade the Prime Minister of a course of action, which I still think is sensible, straightforward and would help to bind the United Kingdom together. The Prime Minister sets out in his letter that he doesn't agree with that course of action, but he does very emphatically say that he shares our ambition to bear down on the virus. To advise people, as he would do, and require, as I would do, not to travel from high incidence to low incidence areas. And he reaffirms in his letter very powerfully towards the end his wish to go on working together in that common interest. So I wouldn't describe it as dead in the water. I do think that when the Prime Minister doesn't follow the sorts of actions we have followed in Wales, it turns what ought to have been an issue to do with high incidence and low incidence areas into an issue in some people's mind between the border of Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom. I think that should have been avoided. I think it's damaging to the United Kingdom when we have border disputes and I wish the Prime Minister had acted differently. But his correspondence with me last night, while continuing to express his own different point of view, was in other ways a strong reaffirmation of the need to work together and his commitment to doing so. Adam Diolch yn fawr, over to Will Hayward at Wales Online. Thank you, First Minister. I appreciate what you say about you don't want to speculate, especially when it's still a matter for debate. However, schools have been acknowledged by yourself as a special case back in August. Is it fair to say then that schools are not off the table in terms of closing and could in fact be part of the firebreak? Well, I'll just say this, Will, that we have said for many, many weeks that keeping schools open is a top priority for us as a Welsh Government. I'm doing the discussions that we were having yesterday, both with our scientific advisers and the Chief Medical Officer when the Cabinet met, when I spoke with the leaders of the local authorities, when I met with the Education Trade Unions as part of the Social Partnership Council. Of course, schools were a very regular topic of conversation and a topic of conversation in that context that we will do everything we can to keep schools open. Whether we are able to do that entirely is still a matter for the detail of the discussion that goes on. But as a priority, I reaffirm that for everybody today. OK, so as it stands, schools are the last thing that would close if things were closing. Even if we've locked down firebreaks and travel restrictions, one of the most important parts of the response is testing. For over a month now, there's been serious issues in the Lighthouse Labs with 72 hours as the standard turnaround time. And there have been people contacting us saying they've been waiting for over four days for a result. Can you explain exactly why there are delays? What are you doing to remedy this and when we can expect to see an improvement in testing times? Well, I can report what we are told by the people who are responsible for the Lighthouse Labs because the Welsh Government doesn't run the Lighthouse Labs, but at the COBRA meeting that I attended earlier this week, there was a direct report from Dido Harding, the person who the Prime Minister has put in charge of that system. She acknowledged that there have been delays and she said that they are just practically driven. You have a system which is working flat out. If people fall ill, if a piece of equipment breaks down, if a delivery of reagent chemicals is delayed, then that leads to delays in turnaround times. She gave us an assurance that everything is being done to improve that position and that she was confident that it would improve. Certainly, we saw last week an improvement in the volume of tests available through Lighthouse Labs here in Wales. In fact, last week in Wales, there were hundreds of tests that weren't taken up, so we weren't facing a problem of capacity, which was a problem that we did face through the Lighthouse Labs just two weeks ago. But turnaround times are not where we would like them to be. That was acknowledged by those responsible for it. And they did set out for us the actions they will take to try to make sure that that position is improved and improved as rapidly as they can do. Are you confident that that will happen? And if it doesn't, would you consider increasing capacity more in Wales to offset that? Well, it's not a capacity issue. Well, as I said, we had more capacity last week than we needed. It's a matter of turnaround times. What I can say, all I can say to you is, is the people responsible for it said they were confident and we've reinforced with them the need for them to deliver on the promise that they are making. Well, thanks very much indeed. Over to Dan Bever and LBC. Thank you, First Minister. Good afternoon. You and other ministers have been saying all week that a circuit breaker lockdown is being actively considered and we should expect a decision in the coming days. You've reiterated that again today. But understandably, that's going to create a lot of anxiety amongst the public and businesses. So I wonder if you could give me a straight answer on this. Is this the preferred option for the Welsh government? This is the option that is under most active consideration. Dan, but it's not a concluded option for the reasons that I've explained, and it's not the only option, but it is the option that is most actively under consideration. Thank you. And yesterday, LBC was told students whose primary residence is in Wales, but currently residing COVID-19 hotspots will not be able to return home when the travel ban is introduced. We've spoken to some students in this particular area and they say that they're worried, particularly for Christmas. Now, I know that you're not going to comment on Christmas because you say it's too far away. But can you guarantee when the travel ban might end? No, I wouldn't be able to do that. I'm afraid because that will depend upon the way that events and circumstances unfold over the next couple of weeks. As I've said many times here, the fewer people we meet and the fewer journeys we make, the safer we all are. And our arrangements on travel are just designed to reinforce all of that. So while they are necessary to turn back the flow of this deadly virus, while they are necessary to protect our NHS, while they're necessary to save people's lives, then those arrangements will have to stay in place. And as anybody who has studied the way in which things have changed so rapidly over the last six weeks, no guarantees could sensibly be offered by anybody. Dan, thank you. Rupert Evelyn of ITN, please. Thank you, First Minister. Your officials were saying a couple of weeks ago that, and I quote, a Wales-wide lockdown similar to the one seen in March is a last ditch. What you're now proposing is that last ditch. In effect, everything you've done over the last few weeks hasn't worked, has it? Well, I think that it's absolutely not the case. I really want to be clear about that. If we had not taken the action we have taken, if people had not made the contribution that they have made in all parts of Wales, we will be in a far, far worse position today than the one we are actually facing. And in fact, it is because we acted early and decisively in different parts of Wales that we are today in a better position than any other part of the United Kingdom. And that really is a tribute to everything that people in all those local areas have done to make their contribution. It has worked, but it has not worked enough. And the spread of the virus has been escalating even while people have been trying to do what they can to turn it back. That's why we have to think about doing more, because what we have by itself is turning out not to be sufficient. And we are not returning to where we were back in March of this year because in March of this year we had an open-ended lockdown. A lockdown which nobody knew when it was end. We are considering a fixed period of a circuit breaker, and that I think is something very different. Obviously the mechanics are slightly different between a fire break and a local lockdown, but when you initially instigated the local lockdown in Caerphilly, it was under the guise then that it was going to be a couple of weeks. It's still in place. Why would that differ with a fire break? Well, you're absolutely right when we instituted those restrictions in Caerphilly and elsewhere. We hoped at the time that it would be sufficient to bring the level of coronavirus back down below 50 per 100,000 of the population. And for many weeks in Caerphilly we saw a steady, you know, 10.10.10 reduction we got to the 50 mark and we got below the 50 mark. The problem is we haven't been able to sustain it below 50 and to drive it even further down. So that's why I've said that those efforts really did succeed and we'd be in a very different position if they hadn't been made. If we have a circuit breaker, it will be for a defined period of time and after that defined period of time, a different set of rules will be necessary. It will not be prolonged indefinitely in the way that the regime earlier in the year had to be prolonged because that wouldn't be a circuit breaker. That isn't what Sage is recommending. It's not what our own technical advisory group is saying to us. So it's not just a matter of mechanics. It's a very different application of the technique. Rŵp ydw i'r drosod i Tomos Evans at Espedwreck. Yr wych, bryfynid o'r prall yn dda i chi. Gai o fien ymrathau ben Gymraeg a fydd ysgolach yma. Oherwydd, you mentioned extensively how people of Wales have made large sacrifices over the last few months. What assurances can you give to them now with the talk of a potential circuit breaker being announced next week potentially? Do you think that you can reassure them that the sacrifices will be worth it eventually? Well, I think it is possible to give people that assurance and I do want to recognise the enormous sacrifices that are being asked of people here in Wales. Where all of us tired of coronavirus, we all wish that our lives could be returned to something more like they were before this awful pandemic hit. But the efforts of people in Wales made created a very big difference earlier in the year. And now as we enter the more difficult autumn and winter period, we have to ask us all to make that effort again. And it will make a difference. It will make a difference to allow our NHS to go on treating people for other conditions to make sure there's the capacity there to deal with emergencies that have nothing to do with coronavirus and to save people's lives, both in coronavirus and for other conditions as well. I'm absolutely able to give that assurance to people. But hard as it is, much as the sacrifice we are asking causes harm and difficulty in people's lives. Collectively, it does make a difference and that difference is worth making because it is the difference for many people, not just between a difficult time and a not difficult time, but a difference literally between life and death. So alla i ddweud, alla i ddweud yn hyderus i bobl anhymru, mae popeth ni wedi'i wneud y gilydd mae hwn yn wedi bod yn efeithio. Allwn i weld hwnna adros, gwanwun adros yr haf. A nawr pan ni'n ofyn unwaith eto i bobl i wneud fwy, ni yn gallu ddweud i bobl. Bydd effaith, a bydd effaith positive mas o'r ymdrech. A ni'n gallu walchod y gwasanaeth iechyd gennyd leitho. Ni'n gallu helpu bobl sy'n dioddau, ni'n just o coronavirus, sy'n dioddau o o'r pethau eraill hefyd. A'n trwy beth ni'n gallu wneud y gilydd, ni'n gallu wahaniaeth. A wahaniaeth ni'n just rŵn cyfnod anol a cyfnod llai anol, ond a wahaniaeth rŵn bywydau. Bobl sy'n gallu byw neu sy'n mynd i marw. Dyna pam ni'n ofyn i bobl i wneud y pethau, ni'n ofyn iddyn nhw i wneud. Diolch yn hynny i agoseteg allaf at y dda'r fangbwynt ar arhaig hefyd ysgol ychwanol. With the travel restrictions being brought into force later today, is the Welsh Government's message, once again, to the Visit Wales later? Well, our message to people who live in high circulation areas anywhere else in the United Kingdom is exactly that, but now is not the time for them to visit Wales. Of course, we look forward hugely to welcoming them here again, as we did in their tens of thousands over the summer period. But the sky has darkened considerably since then. Back then, in July and August, there was very little coronavirus circulating here in Wales, and we were able very successfully to welcome people back here. Now in October, where coronavirus is once again on the march, it's just not possible safely to welcome people to Wales from areas where there is even more coronavirus in evidence. So our message, of course, to people elsewhere is, we look forward hugely to seeing you here again in Wales, but now is not the time. So a neges i ddani i bobl tyfas o Gymru, a ledled y dynas yn edrych eu eu. Oedd cwrs, ni'n edrych ymlaen i croesawu chi unwaith eto nôl i Gymru. Fel oeddwn ni'n allu neud dros yr haf, allu neud e yn Llywodraeth neus hefyd, ond yn yr haf, ond mae'n gorffennaf a awst, oedd ni fel o bobl ond sy'n dioddau o coronavirus yma yn Gymru, oedd yn is a iawn nawr mae'r cydestun wedi'n elu. Ym mishadref, mae coronavirus yn codi, yn cynnydd i dros Gymru i gyd, a nawr ddim i'w ar amser i bobl tyfas o Gymru sy'n byw mewn ar daloedd, ble mae'r y lefel o coronavirus yn i chael dros ben, nawr i'w ddim ar amser i ddyn nhw dod yn ddiogel i Gymru. O'r neges i'w, ni'n edrych ymlaen, oedd cwrs ni'n edrych ymlaen, i croesawu chi i gyd i'n waith eto o'i Gymru, ond nawr i'w ddim ar amser i neud e. Tom os i'r chyfawr, oedd yw Rob Taylor at www.rexham.com. First Minister, a first minister, a few minutes ago you said a fire break or circuit break will buy us more time to do things in a better planned way to be clear what currently needs better planning and what's wrong with existing plans and you also referred to new and different ways to keep people safe. A lockdown, TTP etc. is not new. Can you outline the new strategies and ideas that have been looked at? Well I can answer some of that Rob, but some of it falls into the general warning I gave earlier on that I'm not going to speculate about decisions that are yet to be taken. But things that we would be able to use a short circuit breaker to do would include bringing forward some of the plans we have for field hospitals in Wales. We've seen the first field hospital in Wales opened again today. A Sbyty Seren in the Cwmthar Morgannwg area has patients in it today. That's the first reuse of field hospitals during this second upswing of coronavirus. And I think the speed at which the virus is rising means we have to revisit our plans making sure that we are able to reopen field hospitals maybe earlier than we had originally anticipated. It would give our TTP teams a breathing space. They've had to deal with this huge upsurge in numbers and not just in numbers of index cases. Back in the summer when you had an index case the average number of contacts that that person was reporting was two or three. Now it's between five and ten. And that generates a huge number of extra people who've got to be contacted, advised, asked to self isolate and so on. If we were to have a circuit breaker period where we were all staying at home then inevitably the number of contacts any one of us would have would be reduced back again. And that would allow our TTP programme to catch its breath for us to recruit more people. We are recruiting more people every week but we will be able to bring those people on stream. So if we were to have a circuit breaker period I just want to be sure that people understand. It would not be two weeks when nothing was happening. It would be two weeks when we were very actively taking advantage of that period in order to make sure that we are as well prepared as we can be for the weeks that would follow. Thank you. And the two week local lockdown review outcome is now out for Wrexham and other North Wales authorities. As that's a very few brief lines can you give details on how that outcome was reached, what was considered apart from the raw cases per 100k and what if any were any encouraging signs and what's still going wrong on a local level that's resulting in rising figures. And also finally why is it now the 16th until we get the update? Surely that should have been two days ago. Well the day on which the decision had to be made was yesterday and it was made in accordance with our timetable but it was made in consultation with local authorities including all six North Wales local authority leaders. As I said I met all 22 leaders yesterday and one of the things that we discussed was whether they were any areas under local lockdown restrictions where those restrictions could be lifted in any way. And I think that a strong consensus amongst us all was given the context that I've just described to people that we were not at that point and that was true of North Wales leaders as well. Of course we had a discussion of it all and a number of points were raised by North Wales leaders as well but the outcome was the outcome I just reported to you. Can I say it is not a matter of things going wrong? I'm looking at the figures in front of me of North Wales authorities and three authorities in North Wales. I'm sure I've got that right. Three authorities in North Wales are showing falls in the incidence rate today. They're very modest falls and they're not strong enough for us to feel that now is the right moment to lift any of those local restrictions. Everywhere across Wales the local restrictions are working and the things that everybody is doing those local authority colleagues and Welsh citizens are making a difference. The problem is that the acceleration in the virus means that those measures by themselves are not going to be enough. If we didn't have them things would be far worse so thank goodness we have worked with those local players and with local people to take the action that we have. We now need to go further and to do more and that is true of North Wales and it is true of all parts of Wales. And sorry finally another as well as the raw numbers that you just described Rob of course we look at positivity rates the percentage of people who are being tested who turn out to be positive and that too has been on the rise in Wales across the last couple of weeks so we now have a positivity rate across the whole of Wales which has risen above 10% and positivity rates in North Wales have been rising as well with two other authorities above 10% and a number of others heading that way so all of that added up to the decision we took yesterday that now was not the moment to step back from the local restrictions which we are asking people to live with to co-operate with they are making a difference. Rob thank you down south to Thomas Moody of the South Wales Argus Hey good afternoon First Minister are you concerned that by not announcing a decision on this circuit breaker lockdown until Monday but giving the people the not giving people knowledge it is coming are you concerned that we're emboldened people to maybe flower local restrictions this weekend Well I hope Thomas it will have exactly the opposite effect by explaining to people the seriousness of the position that we are facing I think it will reinforce the efforts that people are making to do the right thing and I must say if anybody took the other message they would just be making the period of time in which we will all have to live with restrictions longer and harder so my message to people in Wales today is things are going to get tougher and it is far better that we all act together now minimize the number of meetings you have with other people indoors only travel where you really are sure that you need to do so those are the simple contributions together with social distancing hand washing all the things we all know make a difference that will shorten the period of time we all have to live under these difficulties and make what we're doing more effective that's the message that people need to take today Okay thank you and I just wanted to ask about travel restrictions as well in the week you described how police forces would enforce these restrictions such as extra patrols on main roads coming into Wales when were police forces notified of the final details of this travel ban and have they got the resources to enforce it in the way you've described Well Thomas we've tried to do the work we did on the travel restrictions in the same way as we're trying to do it on the circuit breaker by talking to people before we make the decision not after we make the decision so police chief constables and police and crime commissioners were engaging discussions with us in the run up to the decision it wasn't a matter of them being taken by surprise by it or us only telling them after we made our minds up and of course we talked to them about the enforcement issues as part of that conversation it is true to say that levels of crime generally have risen back to where they were before coronavirus began so our police forces are very busy and I've got an awful lot of things we're asking them to do but as chief constables made clear if the rules were changed then they would have to reprioritise the work that they are doing and that they would play their part in enforcement and I'm quite sure that as they did so successfully earlier in the year they will help us to do that again the real enforcement should come through people themselves in his letter to me the prime minister emphasises that it is the strong advice of the UK government to people in high incidence areas but they should not travel out of them and they should not stay overnight beyond those areas too if people take that advice then there will be no need for our police forces to be enforcing this ban because people will be doing the right thing in the first place. Thomas thank you very much back up to Owen Evans of the Daily Post. Thank you first minister you mentioned that a circuit breaker lockdown was not the only option on the table what realistic alternative options are there if a circuit breaker cannot be brought in? Wel we could strengthen local lockdown measures further you'll remember that back in august when we published our local lockdown plan it had a menu of actions that we could take and we've not exhausted that menu by any means so you could say the way to do it is by making those local lockdown measures tougher we could decide to have a national set of regulations that would not last for two weeks but would be a new set of rules that would take us beyond that and into the future so a circuit breaker is not the only option we have it is the option recommended to us by SAGE and by our own technical advisory group and that's why I described it as I did earlier as the one that is most actively under consideration. Thank you and I'm wondering also if there's plans for fresh advice for people previously asked to shield during the first lockdown the chief medical officer does plan to write out to people who are on the shielded list we've always kept the shielded list we still have the contact details for people who we advised previously and I understand that the chief medical officer is preparing fresh advice to people it may I doubt that it will be to suggest to them that they go back to the measures that were expected of them earlier in the summer where they were advised not to go out at all even for exercise we know that that was a very very big ask of people and that it came with harms of its own in terms of loneliness isolation people sense of mental health and well-being and so on but the context is changing and I think the chief medical officer will want to make sure that those people who are on the shielded group get the benefit of updated advice for from him Owen thank you to Nathan Shusmith of the speaker thank you first minister other than working at new restrictions how confident are you that enough work is taking place and resources are available in the health sector to ensure that it does not run out of capacity as you've expressed concerns multiple times apparently NHS potentially being overwhelmed are there plans to increase capacity further well Nathan there's more than one sort of capacity so there is the physical capacity of extra beds and so on and as you know we have plans for 5000 extra beds to be available in the health service over this winter but there is a different sort of capacity that does worry me more and that's human capacity we have asked an enormous amount of those people who work in our health service over the last seven months you know imagine what it is like to be working in a context where for hour after hour you are in full PPE kit with all the discomfort and everything the physical exhaustion that that brings and you've been doing it now for month after month we are going to have to ask people to do that again unless we act together to turn back the tide of the virus and while you can you know pay for extra beds and you can mobilise extra facilities of that sort you can't turn on the tap on human resources in the same way and so I do I do worry about what we have asked of those people in health and social care already and what we are going to have to go on asking of them and it's why I have been saying to people today that you can make a difference the way you go about things will help to make sure that those people on whom we all depend are not placed under the sort of pressure that would add even more to what we've asked of them already. Thank you for that and you said that you've asked Rishi Sianat for UK-wide business support to be aligned with a five break lockdown given that the UK government doesn't seem to be supporting a circuit breaker lockdown over in England how confident are you that businesses and the public can be financially protected over in Wales? Well what I'll ask the Chancellor to do is just to simplify the position so the businesses have just one scheme of help that they would get from the UK government. I'm not asking the UK government for more help I'm simply asking them for a simplified system which would make it easier for businesses to get the help that the UK government has already promised would be available and on top of that as I said earlier colleagues here in the Welsh Government were working very hard yesterday and with colleagues elsewhere in the world of business and the trade unions and so on to identify and to mobilise additional help from the Welsh Government's own resources given what we are likely to ask of businesses if a circuit breaker period does prove to be our final decision. So I'm happy to say to people that we will mobilise all the help that we are able to to get people through what will be an additionally difficult time and I'm hopeful that we will persuade the UK Government to play their part so I say I'm not asking them for extra money I'm simply asking them to make the system better aligned with the sort of decisions we may have to make here in Wales. Thank you Nathan finally today to Andrew Nuttall of the leader. Thank you our question would be so earlier this week there was a new walking testing facility point to place here in Wrexham. Are there any sort of early indicators from this site in terms of people sort of taking up the testing capacity there and then sort of further to this will more sort of sites like this start to pop up in areas where there are local restrictions like a lot parts of north Wales are. Yeah thank you Andrew so I don't have Wrexham specific figures but I do know that the number of tests that were carried out in the Betsi Cadwaladr area in the last reporting period were up significantly and I think that will partly be as a result of new facilities and facilities like walking centres that are easier for people to use in some parts of Wales where it's a bit of a journey to the nearest testing site otherwise. I'm very pleased we've been able to put in place a number of walking facilities now in Wales and we do indeed have plans for more and we particularly have some plans to make testing more easily available in the north west of Wales where there sometimes are journeys that people have to make and we know from earlier in the summer that when testing was necessary in the Wrexham area people came forward for that testing in very large numbers you know and we were very grateful for that and very grateful again for the things that people will do to make sure that they're having themselves tested and if they need to take action as a result that they do that as quickly as those test results can be provided. Yeah and just sort of following on from that in an earlier question you did say three counties have seen a fall in COVID cases and two authorities were sort of reaching that 10% margin. Can you clarify which areas those are? You know I can but you finished the question I'm sorry. And then the next question that I had planned was ahead of the half term week of schools and I see people maybe thinking of traveling to sort of parts here in north Wales we've got the seaside areas and we've got things to do. What can you say obviously you said earlier that the message would ideally be to sort of stay away from those areas or what can you say to sort of parents and families that are going to be faced now with a week where the kids will be back off school and they're not going to be able to do anything with them? Well on the first part of your question Andrew I just want to emphasise that these figures are volatile they go up and down every day and what I'm giving you is a snapshot of what I have in front of me as the figures that I saw this morning. So there are marginal falls in the incidence the number per 100,000 in Denbyshire, Flintshire and Gwynedd on the figures that I have in front of me positivity rates are over 10% in Wrexham and in Flintshire and are heading that way more or less across the whole of north Wales. In relation to the question of half term you know my message is very clear to people please don't travel please don't go to places outside your own local area but in the discussions we had with local authority leaders yesterday they were very keen to make sure that they keep their local facilities open so parks will be open and I'm hopeful that children's play areas will be open and it will be a matter for us all of seeking out those opportunities that will be there close to hand. So my pleetor parents who will be wanting to do things with children over half term in every part of Wales there are good things to do and don't overlook what your own area has to offer you explore that and help us as a result to keep you and to keep Wales safe. Thank you all very much indeed Diolch yn fawr.