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Here are the coronavirus morning headlines for Thursday, December 17, as ministers need to review the 6:00 p.m. curfew and alcohol ban.
The ministers will meet to discuss whether the rules, put in place to restrict what pubs, restaurants and cafes can do due to coronavirus rates, should be changed.
There is no clear consensus on the impact the rules have had, especially as 11,000 positive Covid tests have been omitted from the results reported in recent days.
But any hope that the rules can be relaxed during the festive period seems wrong.
North Wales Live understands that the current restrictions on hospitality businesses will remain unchanged before Wales heads to its third closure at the end of the month.
The decision will be officially confirmed on Friday after the review takes place today.
Current rules state that pubs, cafes and restaurants must close at 6pm and cannot serve alcohol at all.
Today a huge accumulation of Covid results will appear in the system
Around 11,000 new coronavirus cases are expected to be added to the figures in Wales.
The delay is attributed to a massive backlog of samples processed in lighthouse laboratories that have not been added to the results from Wales.
The full breakdown by local regions is currently being analyzed and should be available today, but it likely means that cases will double what everyone thought they were last week.
A PHW spokeswoman said: “The delay was related to the maintenance of the NHS Welsh Laboratory Information Management System (WLIMS). This took place on Friday and Saturday (11-12 December) so that the tests could be carried out. essential service updates.
“This means we expect a backlog of results in the coming days, and there will be a data validation and reconciliation period that will affect our daily reporting figures for several days.
“Morning [Thursday] The figures and those for the next few days will be higher as a result of the entry into the portfolio. Across Wales, we will report 11,000 new positive cases in the region.
“We emphasize that this has not affected the people who receive your results, and anyone who tests positive will be contacted by their local authority’s testing, tracking and protection team in the usual way.”
Dr Mair Hopkin, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, told BBC Radio Wales: “It puts Wales in a much worse position than we thought we were, so it is even more important that we protect the vulnerable.
“The virus multiplies very, very fast and when you start to get to such high levels, there is so much virus around that it is very, very difficult to escape from it.”
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Strict new Christmas rules for Wales
Wales will have the toughest rules in the UK, as it will be illegal for more than two households to get together over Christmas.
The move comes after a day of confusing announcements from the UK and Welsh governments as they struggle to control spiraling Covid rates.
The government had wanted a UK-wide Christmas focus, but Wales will now legislate to restrict mixing to two households between December 23-27, and will enter a tighter lockdown on December 28. Everything Mark Drakeford said when announcing new rules.
All nonessential stores must close for everyone except for click-and-pick at the end of the business day on Christmas Eve, as do “close contact” services like hairdressers and estheticians. Gyms, leisure centers and sports facilities must also close after Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted that he did not want to “cancel” Christmas, but said people should prepare for a “smaller and safer” holiday period amid fears about the spread of the coronavirus.
Johnson said the so-called “Christmas window” allowing the union of three households will go ahead in England, Johnson said people would be left to make individual judgments about whether Christmas celebrations were worth the risk, with warnings to avoid relatives. elderly and a recommendation. isolate beforehand.
Despite pleas from various medical experts to remove the easing of restrictions during the holiday period, Johnson insisted that “banning” Christmas would be “downright inhumane.”
Despite Wales making changes, the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments made a joint statement saying: “The safest approach may be not to form a Christmas bubble.”
England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said the models indicated that looser restrictions would lead to more deaths, adding that his advice for the festive period was: “Keep it small, short, local and think of the most vulnerable people. “.
Scotland’s Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her “strong recommendation” was that people stay in their own home and in their own home.
In Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Arlene Foster said the public must take “any and all precautions” at Christmas and that proposals for new restrictions will be presented on Thursday.
Health services fight
Staff illness has led to the closure of two NHS birthing centers.
The Aneurin Bevan University Board of Health will temporarily close its midwife-run birthing centers in Newport and Abergavenny from December 17 to January 4.
Cardiff and the Vale University Board of Health also made a desperate call for additional staff.
“Critical care staffing is currently proving extremely challenging for us,” he posted on Facebook.
“So we are looking for Registered Nurses, ODPs and Paramedics, who are willing to join us on a temporary and flexible basis to help with some shifts.
“We would greatly appreciate your help as the pressure on our services increases.”
An announcement is expected on Covid levels in England
Health leaders in England have warned the government not to move areas out of Tier 3 measures “prematurely”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is due to announce the result of his review of the tier system on Thursday, with reports suggesting it could increase the number of people living under the strictest restrictions.
The latest data shows that 255 (81%) of 315 local areas in England have seen an increase in case rates and 60 (19%) have seen a drop.
More than 34 million people, or 61% of England’s population, are currently living under the strictest COVID measures after London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire went to Level 3 on Wednesday.
Chris Hopson, CEO of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts in England, said the government was right to make that move in the South East, saying: “You must now urgently consider adding other areas to that level where infection rates they are equally disturbing. “
He added: “If the government is going to stick to its current approach to Christmas regulations, it must also ensure that its decisions on which area it is at which level are as robust as possible.”
“That means there is no delay in adding any area to Level 3 that should be at that level, and no premature removal of any area.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said there was a “clear case” for the region to move to Level 2, while Preston City Council Leader Cllr Matthew Brown said he believed Lancashire would remain at Level 3.
Cases in your area:
Calls to Include Pregnant Women in Covid-19 Treatment Trials
Pregnant women should have the right to make their own informed decision to participate in clinical studies on Covid-19 treatments, experts have said.
In an opinion piece published in The Lancet Global Health, scientists have said that expectant mothers have been excluded from more than three-quarters of Covid-19 treatment trials.
The authors cautioned that “exclusion poses a risk to the potential efficacy and safety of the treatment for pregnant women who may be at increased risk of severe illness from Covid-19.”
They argued that there is “a public health obligation to include pregnant women in treatment trials to identify and provide appropriate management and care.”
Dr. Melanie Taylor, of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “No explicit and proactive efforts to recruit and retain pregnant women in therapeutic trials For Covid-19, pregnant women will suffer from having fewer medical options available to them, because we do not include them in clinical trials.
“There is a very real possibility that the treatment will be approved for the treatment of Covid-19 without an evidence-based guidance for use in pregnant women.”
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