Coronavirus: Wales' care home testing deadline results due

It is not yet known if a target for all people in care homes in Wales to be tested for coronavirus has been met, the health minister has said.

Tests were due to be completed by Friday and Vaughan Gething said he would know early this week if that target was met.

It comes after First Minister Mark Drakeford had previously said the process was "nearing completion".

There has been criticism over testing in care homes during the pandemic.

Ministers previously faced criticism for not testing all people in care homes as they had initially opted only to test individuals with symptoms.

They then increased testing to larger care homes with no signs of the virus on 6 May.

On 16 May the Welsh Government announced testing would be extended to all care home residents and staff in Wales.

Asked on the BBC Politics Wales programme about whether all care homes had now been tested, Mr Gething said: "I haven't had all the figures back, I expect to get them back to understand where we are on that programme.

"I don't know today but I expect to know when I get the figures that I'm expecting to have on Monday and into Tuesday, and I can confirm the position on where we are with care home testing.

"But we've made really significant progress in a brief period of time, to get care home testing for residents and for staff," he added.

Speaking on BBC Politics Wales last Sunday, Mr Drakeford said it was the Welsh Government's "ambition" to process coronavirus tests more quickly.

The government's scientific advisers say the "most successful" contact tracing systems "require test results within 24 hours".

But official statistics released this week showed it was taking longer to process Covid-19 tests.

On 31 May, 55.5% of tests conducted at coronavirus testing units were returned within 24 hours but on 9 June the figure had dropped to 48.2%.

Tests at drive-through centres are also taking longer - down from 55.5% processed within 24 hours on 31 May to 52.6% on 9 June.

There was a slight improvement in hospital tests from 62.3% to 62.4%.

Mr Gething said: "We need to do better in terms of 24 hours and I recognise that. We get about 90% within 48 hours and that's what you need to have an effective system.

"I of course want to see further progress made... and what we are doing is that as well as increasing our capacity we're looking at not just how we get more tests out but the lab capacity and turnaround to do that."

The Welsh Government will review the current lockdown restrictions on Wednesday, ahead of an announcement on Friday.

Asked if ministers would accelerate the easing of lockdown restrictions, Mr Gething said: "We need to do what's safe and effective. Our objective is to keep Wales safe.

"We may have some more headroom because of the efforts of the people of Wales following the lockdown rules and the guidance.

"We've already signalled we want people to return to schools in a very different way at the end of this month.

"We've already signalled we would like to be in a position to open up non-essential retail."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has commissioned a UK government review into the 2m social distancing rule in England.

However the Welsh Government's scientific advisors recommend keeping the rule and Mr Gething added that would be the case in Wales.

Debbie Humphreys' son came home from a shift in McDonald's on Tuesday with coronavirus symptoms - a high temperature and a slight cough.

Her husband answers 999 calls and is therefore designated a key worker, so arranged a coronavirus test by calling 119.

Ms Humphreys' husband and son were tested at the Llandudno drive-through centre on Thursday morning, but are still waiting for the text messages with their results.

She said: "My husband's told his boss he's not sure if he can go back to work tomorrow and I've been made redundant recently, so we're relying on his wages.

"I heard the health minister saying test results were coming back in 48 hours but that's not happened with us and a lot of people are saying that that's not the case."