Coronavirus: Wales target for 5,000 tests a day abandoned

First Minister Mark Drakeford's strategy for testing has come in for criticism again after he confirmed his government has abandoned a target of 5,000 tests a day by mid-April.

He said at a press conference he will not be setting a new target.

Some parts of the plan to meet 5,000 tests did not turn out to be achievable, Mr Drakeford added.

Plaid Cymru said it was a "scandal", while the Tories accused ministers of "piecemeal disorganisation".

It comes a day after the first minister admitted his government's testing system had not been good enough.

Despite the hold-ups Mr Drakeford said a community testing and surveillance system will be needed in Wales when the country begins to lift the lockdown.

No date has been given for when the stay-at-home restrictions will end, although it has to be reviewed every three weeks with the next such exercise due at the start of May.

Mr Drakeford also said ministers were looking at strengthening regulations on people travelling to second homes, and changing the rules to allow families with children who have learning disabilities or autism to exercise more than once a day.

More detail is expected at the end of the week.

The Welsh Government has so far failed to meet targets for testing set by its own ministers. The country currently has the capacity for 1,300 tests a day, although the capacity has not been fully used.

Following complaints the system was too complicated, the Welsh Government carried out a review to streamline the process.

Mr Drakeford said: "We're not going to get to the 5,000 figure that we had hoped to get to by the middle of this month", he said.

The first minister said he did not want to provide a new target, citing comments from Professor Ceri Phillips from Swansea University saying the number had become a distraction.

Asked why the target was made, Mr Drakeford explained: "The advice we had from people who help us develop testing is that we had confidence at that point we could get to 5,000 tests".

"Because there was confidence in the number I thought it was right to share that number.

"As it has happened some of the things we were relying upon to allow us to get to the 5,000 number a day haven't turned out to be achievable in practice, partly because some of those things are outside our own control

"We were relying on equipment coming to Wales from overseas. We were relying on some reagent chemicals coming to Wales from overseas. Those deliveries haven't arrived to the timescale we had hoped."

Military planners are being brought in to help streamline the system.

Although it is not setting a target, Mr Drakeford promised that the number of tests available in the NHS would be made available each week, along with plans to increase the number.

'Community testing and surveillance'

Meanwhile Mr Drakeford set out a path for how Wales will tackle coronavirus once the restrictions ease.

He said: "As we begin to lift the lockdown, no matter how carefully and cautiously we do it, it is inevitable the circulation of the virus in the community will grow in some places.

"What we need then is community testing and surveillance that will allow us to spot those outbreaks quickly and get on top of them quickly through contact tracing and isolation of people who've got the virus."

He said there was a "strong likelihood" that people will need to be recruited to be a "presence on the ground", helping to do the job of "spotting, tracing and isolating".

They will not "necessarily have to be people with long degrees", he said, suggesting that university students could be a source.

He would not be drawn on whether thousands of people would be needed.

Plaid Cymru's health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said it was a scandal that the 5,000 tests-a-day target had been dropped.

"Having set ambitious targets early on, that I fully supported, we're now not even seeking to test on the kind of scale that is being targeted elsewhere in these islands," he said.

Angela Burns, Welsh Conservative health spokeswoman, said the comments from Mr Drakeford were "concerning".

"We were promised 9,000 tests-a-day by the end of April and over the past few weeks this number has steadily been reduced as a target until there is none," she said.

"Health boards tell me there is a lack of clarity and there are still no firm plans for consistency of provision throughout Wales. Now is the time for a dedicated team to manage the testing process from start to finish rather than the piecemeal disorganisation we are witnessing now."

Decline in admissions

The first minister said a decline in the number of new hospital admissions for coronavirus "persisted over the weekend".

"I said on Friday that there were signs in our system that the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has stabilised, and the new admissions for the virus had started to decline," Mr Drakeford said.

"I'm pleased to say that this pattern has persisted over the weekend and that we can take further confidence that the measures we are all taking continue to save lives".

People are observing the lockdown restrictions at a "high level". However, the minister added the impact of the virus "remains very real" and the weekend saw "another sad and sombre milestone" when the number of deaths in Wales exceeded 500 for the first time.