Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford insisted his country needed a ‘firebreak’ lockdown today despite having a lower rate of coronavirus infections that England.
The Labour politician insisted that he would keep the principality closed down for as short a time as possible but insisted it was necessary to act as a breaker to a ‘rising tide’ of cases.
The decision to impose a ‘short and deep’ lockdown until November 9, which echoes national demands made by Sir Keir Starmer and wipes out Halloween and Bonfire Night, sparked a furious political backlash.
Data showed England had a coronavirus infection rate of 166 per 100,000 people in the week of October 14 while Wales had a rate of 163 per 100,000.
Welsh Tories said it was dooming the country to an endless cycle of two-week lockdowns while Conservative MPs in Westminster said it was a ‘blunt instrument’ and ‘closing down the whole of Wales is disproportionate to the level of risk in some parts of the country’.
But Mr Drakeford today said: ‘It is a very difficult time indeed and it’s why, in the end, we decided to go for the shortest possible period of a firebreak – a two-week period.
‘But if you’re doing it short, you’ve got to do it deep. There’s a trade-off there.
‘We could have gone for a longer period with slightly fewer restrictions but, in the end, the advice to us – partly because of the impact on people’s mental health – was that if you could keep this period of time as short as you could, that would help to mitigate that impact.’
The Labour politician insisted that he would keep the principality closed down for as short a time as possible but insisted it was necessary to act as a breaker to a ‘rising tide’ of cases.
Data showed England had a coronavirus infection rate of 166 per 100,000 people in the week of October 14 while Wales had a rate of 163 per 100,000
The decision by Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish leaders to introduce circuit break lockdowns is also fuelling for a similar step to be introduced in England, something being heavily resisted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Drakeford said the gap between low and high incidence areas of Wales has been ‘narrowing’ over the past 10 days.
‘I’m afraid if we don’t take action, it’s only a matter of time before even Ceredigion begins to feel the impact of the rising tide,’ he added.
‘In places like Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, they are rural areas of Wales. Their hospitals are small. Even a modest rise in coronavirus cases in those parts of Wales will put the health service under real pressure.
‘Other parts of Wales have worked very hard to help protect those parts of Wales where the virus has continued to be suppressed.
‘This is the moment when we need a genuine national effort, all areas of Wales, all citizens of Wales, as part of one great national endeavour.’
The number of people dying of Covid-19 in England and Wales rose for the fifth week in a row to 438 between October 3 and 9, figures released by the ONS today revealed.
Deaths from the disease have now been rising continuously since September 11, when the trend turned after 19 straight weeks of decline in the wake of March’s lockdown.
ONS data show the most recent week’s figure marks a 36 per cent increase on the 321 who died in the week up to October 2, and is more than double the 215 the week before that.
Coronavirus now accounts for 4.4 per cent of all deaths in the two nations – one in every 23.
Under the ‘firebreak’ lockdown, single adult households are able to form an alliance with one other household to address the feelings of ‘loneliness and isolation’, Mr Drakeford added.
His comments case as Greater Manchester faced a ‘high noon’ on Tier Three lockdown today, with ministers preparing to overrule local leaders and Tory MPs – despite figures suggesting the coronavirus spike might already be easing in key areas.
Regional mayor Andy Burnham railed at the ‘provocative’ deadline set by the government this morning after a week of bitter wrangling over a compensation package.
But he admitted he will have to obey the law if Boris Johnson forces the issue, saying he would put one final number to the ‘penny pinching’ government – which is already thought to be offering the area up to £100million.
Mr Burnham also swiped at ‘selective’ figures highlighted by Downing Street that suggested Greater Manchester hospitals could be overwhelmed within weeks unless tougher action is taken. He insisted intensive care bed occupancy was about normal for this time of year, at 80 per cent.
The high-stakes brinkmanship came as a swathe of the country faces being escalated into the highest lockdown bracket, which means shutting pubs and restaurants as well as a ban on households mixing indoors. Mr Johnson gathered his Cabinet this morning for talks on the raging crisis.
However, fresh questions have been raised over the need for the drastic step, as official data show Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester are among the cities where cases have started to plateau after a surge at the end of September, when thousands of students and staff poured back into universities. Infection rates in all four cities have been easing for several days.
In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Burnham criticised the late-night statement from Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick laying down the noon ultimatum.
The mayor – who has been demanding support equivalent to the 80 per cent wages furlough scheme for those hit by the lockdown – claimed Greater Manchester leaders had ‘never been given a figure’ for how much funding they would get. And he said they must have carte blanche on how the money is spent.
‘What I’ll be proposing to the Greater Manchester leaders when we meet this morning, quite early, is that we write to the Government setting out what we think a fair figure is for that support, given we’ve been under restrictions for three months and that has taken a real toll on people and businesses here,’ Mr Burnham said.