‘Don’t manage the virus – eradicate it’ Plaid Leader tells Welsh Government

THE Welsh Government should shift their focus on eradicating the Coronavirus rather than simply managing it, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has said.

His call comes after a Gwynedd GP called on the Welsh Government to outline its official strategy, having previously become concerned over the lack of clarity on the issue.

The Plaid Cymru Leader said Wales should go beyond managing the virus to “eradicating” it and to follow Ireland and Scotland rather than Westminster in aiming to eliminate the virus altogether and to drive the R rate down to zero.

Dr Eilir Hughes of Dwyfor Meirionydd praised the Scottish Government’s “ambitious” strategy of elimination, including “aggressive” test trace and isolation as well as long term restrictions on movement and activities and pointed out that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for England seemingly consisted of controlled community transmission – essentially “herd immunity”.

Over the weekend, pandemic expert Professor Devi Sridhar suggested Scotland was on track to eliminate the disease.

Adam Price MS said:

“We’ve been looking at key indicators such as new cases, hospital admissions and death toll, and these are telling us that that the disease is being managed. But Wales must go beyond managing the virus – we must now eradicate it.

“Whilst Westminster is running a “suppression strategy” which aims to balance the economy and the death rate, Ireland and Scotland are both aiming to eliminate the virus altogether – which would then allow them to re-open their economies in full.

“Scotland has seen its fourth day without any new deaths. Their strategy is working. We need to see a clear strategy from the Welsh Government on how they intend to drive that R rate down to zero and move from test, trace and protect, to test, trace and eliminate.

“We’ve all made sacrifices, all made tangible progress – now a Covid free Wales is in our grasp.”