Peak of Omicron wave in Wales could come in next 10 to 14 days, says First Minister

First Minister Mark Drakeford has said he is “hopeful” coronavirus figures in Wales could start to reduce in around two weeks’ time.

The comments came during a media briefing held yesterday lunchtime in Cardiff as the Welsh Labour leader referred to the latest modelling.

Referring to the above slide, he said: “As you can see, the actual cases are following very closely the predicted wave.

“What the wave shows is the speed at which the Omicron wave will break over us and then how cases decline at a relatively rapid rate as well.

“Now we haven’t reached the peak of that wave as yet, it could be within the next 10 to 14 days.

“But, we will get to the top of the wave and then hopefully we will see the numbers reducing again here in Wales.”

The latest figures show there are more than 2,300 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wales.

Cases are highest amongst 20 to 39 year-olds but with an increase emerging among older age groups as well.

Mr Drakeford said: “As community transmission increases rapidly, while the figures are clearly concerning, they are in line with what the modelling forecasts told us.

“Every close contact is an opportunity for it to spread.”

The latest figures show there are currently a total of 994 in hospital with the virus in Wales.

It represents a 43 per cent increase in a single week and is the highest number seen in Welsh hospitals since March of last year.

Mr Drakeford said: “There are now around 40 people are so ill in hospital that they have to receive critical care and the majority of those people are people who have not been vaccinated.

“Very sadly since just the start of this year, Public Health Wales has reported 38 new deaths from coronavirus.”

When asked about reversing restrictions, and what timeframes could be involved, the First Minister said: “As people will have seen from the model that we showed earlier, the position over the next 10 days to two weeks is not going to be one that is easing. The numbers are likely to continue to rise.

“It will not be until we have past the peak of infections and we are sure that we can see the pressures on the spread of this virus in the community are beginning to reduce.

“It will then take a while as it always does to feed through into reducing pressure on health services, hospital services, critical care services.

“I don’t anticipate that over the next fortnight we will be in a position to move away from the level of restrictions we currently have in place.

“But, we will track it every day, we will review it every week and when we see that corner being turned and we can see the number coming down reasonably rapidly, that will be the point at which we will be able to assess when it is safe to begin to lift the extra restrictions and protections we put in place so far.”

You can view the full update and briefing on the below video:

Yn fyw nawr gyda'r Prif Weinidog Mark Drakeford | Live now with First Minister Mark Drakeford https://t.co/toPFn9FGuF

— Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) January 7, 2022