Covid-19: Leader of the Opposition tackles Drakeford the First Minister over the ‘national embarrassment’ of unreported deaths

In the virtual Plenary session today (April 29), Paul Davies AM – the Leader of the Opposition – grilled the First Minister over one of the most concerning aspects to Wales’ response to the Coronavirus pandemic: the underreporting of deaths of people with the virus.

Acknowledging that a review has been published, the Leader of the Shadow Cabinet simply asked why it took so long before the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales actually realised something was wrong.

Mr Davies also quizzed the First Minister over testing for Coronavirus. Earlier today, the Health Minister refused to extend testing for all residents of care homes as has begun in England.

Speaking later, Mr Davies – who described the underreporting as a “national embarrassment” – said:

“Welsh Conservative Members strive to work collaboratively with the Government and Members from other parties, but we cannot lose sight of our duty to the Welsh people to scrutinise.

“And so let me be clear: the responses and the actions promised by the Welsh Labour administration over these failures – and in the case of the shocking refusal to test all care home residents and staff, a dereliction of duty – cannot be ignored.

“We call on the Welsh Government to reverse its decision over care home testing as a matter of national urgency, and to guarantee that a robust mechanism for accurate, reliable, and timely reporting is in place.”