Manchester City facilitating same number of tests as whole of Wales – but First Minister defends shortfall

The First Minister says new figures released today will show that testing for coronavirus in Wales is “moving in the right direction”.

Just under a month ago, Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he was keen to maximise the use of the country’s testing capacity.

Yet the latest update from Public Health Wales shows just 1,314 tests were carried out in Wales yesterday, despite a previously reported potential of around 2,300.

At today’s Welsh Government press conference, North.Wales highlighted that Manchester City Football Club’s Etihad Campus was being used to carry out more than 1,000 tests a day.

We asked First Minister Mark Drakeford what was preventing the full amount from being taken up here.

In response, Mr Drakeford said: “We’ll be publishing the latest figures today on testing as we are committed to doing every week.

“They will show a significant rise in the number of tests available here in Wales, and they will also show that the figures of the number of people we are testing each day is higher than it has been at any time during the coronavirus crisis.

“I think we will be able to demonstrate conclusively that things are moving in the right direction, and that there is some acceleration in the movement in the right direction.

“I still think there is more that needs to be done to make sure that we are making best use of the testing capacity that we have.

“We are using some help from the army here in Wales to iron out some of the blockages which have been slowing down the ability of individuals and settings to get the testing that is available.”

You can watch the full briefing from today below, including the Q&A session at the end:

🎥 Yn fyw nawr | 🎥 Live now: https://t.co/IPcdmKZBBb

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) May 11, 2020