The Welsh Government has been criticised for not having published the scientific advice that led Mark Drakeford to introduce the toughest Covid restrictions in the UK.
Speaking on Boxing Day, as the new rules banning large gatherings and reintroducing social distancing came into force, a spokesman for the Welsh Government said only that the advice would be published "shortly". Read the full list of Covid rules here.
Minutes and papers from the UK's Sage group, whose advice informs the governments in all four parts of the UK, have already been published from their meeting of December 23.
Yet the specific advice of the Welsh Technical Advisory Cell (TAC) and Wales' Chief Medical and Scientific Officers which led to the lockdown in Wales has not been published yet. The most recent TAC papers are from its meeting on December 10 while the most recent lockdown-review advice from the nation's chief scientific adviser was for the lockdown review on November 11, over six weeks earlier.
Welsh Conservative MS Samuel Kurtz said the failure to publish the advice made the new Covid restrictions "hard to swallow" for the public and said publishing "clear evidence" would make the decisions "more understandable".
First Minister Mark Drakeford referred to the advice he had received in his press conference on December 22 announcing the tougher Covid restrictions from December 26.
Asked why it had not been published, First Minister replied that it was published "routinely".
He said: "Well, we publish absolutely routinely the advice that we get through our technical advisory group. We rely on the advice of Sage as well. And the Sage advice was last published on Saturday, I believe, last week. [We put] in the public domain everything that we see when we review the regulations. The chief medical officer always includes a report always publish that report as well."
Sam Kurtz, Conservative MS for Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South demanded that the Welsh Government publish its latest evidence to "show us scientifically why these [Boxing Day] restrictions are required".
He said: “We’ve constantly been told that due to Omicron the situation is fast moving, with three separate restriction announcements from the Welsh Government within a week. Yet the most recent scientific evidence published for both MSs and the general public to digest is from December 10. We backbenchers didn’t even have the most recent information when the Senedd was recalled on December 22.
"The lack of recent evidence published by either TAC or the chief medical officer to back the Welsh Government’s decisions does nothing to quell the idea that these Boxing Day restrictions are nothing short of an opportunist political manoeuvre.
"If there was clear evidence published to suggest these were necessary, then that is understandable. But such a delay in publishing the scientific analysis in light of quite strict restrictions coming into force, especially around outside events, really does make it tough for people to swallow."
On December 10, the data of the last published TAC papers, there were 13 confirmed cases of Omicron in Wales with the TAC report saying: "Much of the emerging evidence is still preliminary and there remain knowledge gaps around the impact of the variant on wider immune response, real-world vaccine effectiveness, transmissibility, severity of illness and a clear picture of international prevalence.
"Measures to improve protective behaviours in the population should slow ingress of the variant into Wales, however this will require that the measures and the reasons for them are understood and widely-adopted by the Welsh population and enforced consistently."
To read why Mr Drakeford thinks a repeat of a full January lockdown is currently unlikely, click here.
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: "Omicron is a fast-moving, high-infectious form of coronavirus. While these preliminary studies provide comfort and hope about the severity of disease, if this Omicron wave infects large numbers of people, it will have knock-on impacts on public services and the economy because of staff absences; it could cause a surge in hospitalisations, at a time when the NHS is already at its busiest, and we could sadly see more deaths.
"We take seriously the advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies when it says the earlier interventions happen the greater the effect they will have. The alert level two measures and strengthened guidance, which will be introduced from Boxing Day, are a proportionate response to the public health threat from Omicron."
They added that the latest Technical Advisory Cell advice will be published "shortly".
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