English: Thank you, Minister, for today's statement. Yes, we are in a very uncertain situation. The numbers of positive cases are very high. We know that - I know from the experience of my entire family and from testing positive myself on Christmas Day how much community transmission there has been. But looking forward is what's important now. I know that the Minister wanted to strike a very serious tone with the statement today - and that's understandable, of course, it's a very difficult situation in several ways - but I think I would have liked to have seen greater attention being paid to the positive signs now because it's on those that we will be able to build, hopefully, and it's those, hopefully, as they become clearer, and as the light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter, that should be guiding the decisions in coming days. I'm very grateful to your officials who have given me two briefings over the past 24 hours. It's good to see the encouraging signs, the clear evidence about how much less likely individuals are to become very ill as a result of this variant as compared to delta and the good news in terms of the pressure on critical care units. There are also clear signs, it's important to say, that the regulations that have been in place over the past few weeks have been effective in general. I will raise some questions on some aspects of them in a moment. But of course, because of the high number of positive cases - far greater than in any other wave, - we know that there is still a significant impact on health services. That's true in terms of the numbers of staff who are poorly, although many of them are missing work because of other reasons too - it's important to remember that. And on that point, may I ask why not make that decision now, as the RCN and others have asked, to provide FFP3 face masks for staff to safeguard them, to make it less likely that they will be impacted by the virus? There's pressure too in terms of how many are COVID positive in hospitals that need to be treated differently as a result of that and the pressure that emanates from that. It's important to remember that it's a minority of COVID-positive patients who are in hospital because of problems with regard to COVID; some of them are there because they've broken their arm, for example, but they happen to be COVID positive. And it's clear too that there are other problems here, and we must bear that in mind. There's the unsustainability of the NHS - winter pressures, to give it another name - which is the main reason for the challenges in the NHS at the moment, and what the difficult COVID situation has done is exacerbate that. The result is that the pressure on health and care services, because of the omicron wave, is likely to continue for a long while yet. There is a need to be cautious, but there are signs that we are coming to the peak of the wave itself in terms of case numbers. Perhaps part of what we are seeing, in terms of positive cases starting to level off, is the result of the change in testing rules and the fact that fewer people are having a PCR test now. May I ask what steps the Government are taking to ensure that more people record positive LFT results? That's very important. But, as things stand, there are signs that things are starting to improve. So, my central question is: how soon, once we are confident that we have come to the peak of this wave, will the Government start to adapt these latest regulations? I know that the Minister doesn't want to give a timescale for that. I also know that she doesn't want more regulations than are needed at any particular time. But can we expect a swift response in terms of some of the regulations? Earlier, Llyr Gruffydd made the case for enabling more people to watch sporting events. I note that Scotland, who are a little bit ahead of us in terms of the current wave and have perhaps already reached the peak, have announced today that they want to welcome crowds back to sporting events. So, can we have an assurance that it's the Government's intention to do that at the earliest possible opportunity? With smaller games that usually have a few hundred in the crowd, I don't see any reason why they couldn't be allowed straight away. May I invite the Minister to take that step, to increase the number of people who can come together for open-air events like those? The same is true of parkruns, as has been raised by other Members today. I would like to see those restarting. If the Government doesn't believe that that is safe, then perhaps we could have an explanation from the Minister as to why. I'm not calling for a lifting of all of the regulations here - I know that the Minister realises that - but we do need to see where we can finesse the regulations in place and I think that the positive signs that we are starting to see are those that we should take action on as soon as possible.
Welsh: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Weinidog, am y datganiad. Ydyn, rydyn ni mewn sefyllfa ansicr. Mae niferoedd achosion positif yn uchel. Rydyn ni'n gwybod hynny - rydw i'n gwybod o brofiad fy nheulu cyfan i a'm mhrawf positif i ar Ddiwrnod y Nadolig cymaint o ledaenu cymunedol sydd wedi bod. Ond edrych ymlaen sy'n bwysig i'w wneud rŵan. Dwi'n gwybod bod y Gweinidog eisiau taro tôn ddifrifol efo'r datganiad hynny heddiw - ac mae hynny'n hollol iawn, wrth gwrs, mae'n sefyllfa anodd mewn sawl ffordd - ond mi fuaswn i, dwi'n meddwl, wedi leicio ychydig mwy o sylw ar yr arwyddion cadarnhaol sydd gennym ni rŵan achos ar y rheini y byddwn ni'n gallu adeiladu, gobeithio, a'r rheini, gobeithio, wrth iddyn nhw ddod yn fwy eglur, a'r golau ym mhen draw'r twnnel yma'n dod yn fwy llachar, sydd angen arwain penderfyniadau mewn dyddiau i ddod. Dwi'n ddiolchgar i'ch swyddogion chi sydd wedi rhoi dau briefing i fi dros y 24 awr diwethaf. Mae'n dda gweld yr arwyddion calonogol, y dystiolaeth reit glir ynglŷn â faint yn llai tebygol ydy unigolion o fynd yn sâl efo'r amrywiolyn yma o'i gymharu efo delta a'r newyddion da hyd yma o ran y pwysau ar adrannau gofal dwys yn benodol. Mae yna arwyddion clir hefyd, mae'n bwysig dweud, fod y rheoliadau sydd wedi bod mewn grym dros yr wythnosau diwethaf wedi bod yn effeithiol yn gyffredinol. Mi godaf i gwestiynau am ambell i elfen ohonyn nhw yn y man. Wrth gwrs, oherwydd niferoedd uchel achosion positif - llawer mwy nag mewn unrhyw don arall - rydyn ni'n gwybod bod yna'n dal impact sylweddol ar wasanaethau iechyd. Mae hynny'n wir o ran niferoedd staff sy'n sâl, er bod llawer mwy yn colli gwaith am resymau eraill na sydd yna am resymau COVID - mae'n bwysig cofio hynny. Ac ar y pwynt hwnnw, a gaf i ofyn pam ddim gwneud y penderfyniad rŵan, fel mae'r RCN ac eraill yn gofyn, i roi gorchuddion wyneb FFP3 i staff i'w gwarchod nhw, i'w gwneud hi'n llai tebygol eu bod nhw'n cael eu taro gan y feirws? Mae yna bwysau hefyd o ran faint sydd yn COVID positif yn yr ysbyty sydd angen cael eu trin yn wahanol o'r herwydd a'r pwysau sy'n dod yn sgil hynny. Mae'n bwysig cofio ei bod hi'n debyg iawn mai lleiafrif o gleifion COVID positif sydd yn yr ysbyty oherwydd problemau COVID; mae rhai yno wedi torri braich, ddywedwn ni, ond sydd yn digwydd bod yn COVID positif. Ac mae hi'n amlwg hefyd - rhaid cofio hyn - fod problemau eraill. Anghynaliadwyedd yr NHS - pwysau'r gaeaf, i roi enw arall arno fo - ydy prif sail yr heriau yn yr NHS ar hyn o bryd, a'r hyn mae sefyllfa COVID anodd yn ei wneud ydy gwaethygu hynny. Y canlyniad, wrth gwrs, ydy bod pwysau ar wasanaethau iechyd a gofal, oherwydd y don omicron, yn debyg o godi am sbel eto. Mae angen bod yn bwyllog, ond mae yna arwyddion ein bod ni'n cyrraedd pegwn y don ei hun o ran achosion. Efallai mai rhan o beth rydym ni'n ei weld, o ran achosion positif yn dechrau lefelu, ydy'r newid mewn rheolau profi - y ffaith bod llai o bobl yn cael prawf PCR erbyn hyn. Gaf i ofyn pa gamau mae'r Llywodraeth yn eu cymryd i sicrhau bod mwy o bobl yn cofnodi profion LFT positif? Mae hynny'n bwysig iawn. Ond, fel mae'n edrych, mae yna arwyddion bod pethau yn dechrau gwella. Felly, fy nghwestiwn canolog i yn y fan hyn ydy: pa mor fuan, unwaith rydym ni yn hyderus ein bod ni wedi cyrraedd brig y don yna, fydd y Llywodraeth yn barod i ddechrau addasu'r rheoliadau diweddaraf? Dwi'n gwybod nad ydy'r Gweinidog ddim am roi amserlen i hynny. Dwi'n gwybod hefyd ei bod hi ddim eisiau unrhyw faint yn fwy o reoliadau na sydd angen eu cael. Ond tybed allwn ni ddisgwyl ymateb cyflym, o leiaf, ar rai o'r rheoliadau, ddywedwn ni. Yn gynharach heddiw, mi wnaeth Llyr Gruffydd roi'r achos dros ganiatáu mwy o bobl i fynd i wylio chwaraeon. Dwi'n nodi bod yr Alban, sydd fymryn ar y blaen i ni o ran y don - bosib wedi cyrraedd y pegwn erbyn hyn - wedi cyhoeddi heddiw eu bod nhw am groesawu torfeydd yn ôl i gemau chwaraeon eto. Gawn ni sicrwydd mai bwriad y Llywodraeth ydy gwneud hynny ar y cyfle cyntaf? Ac, wrth gwrs, efo gemau llai, ychydig gannoedd o dorf efallai, dwi'n gweld dim rheswm pam na ellid caniatáu y rheini yn syth, mewn difrif. Gaf i wahodd y Gweinidog i gymryd y cam hwn a chynnyddu faint sy'n cael dod at ei gilydd ar gyfer digwyddiadau awyr agored fel hynny? Ac mae'r un peth yn wir, dwi'n meddwl, efo parkruns - rhywbeth sydd wedi cael ei godi gan Aelodau eraill hefyd. Mi liciwn i weld y rheini yn ailddechrau. Os ydy'r Llywodraeth ddim yn credu bod hynny'n ddiogel, efallai gallwn ni gael eglurhad pam gan y Gweinidog. Nid galw am godi pob un o'r rheoliadau ydw i yn fan hyn - dwi'n gwybod bod y Gweinidog yn sylweddoli hynny - ond, drwy'r amser, mae eisiau gweld lle mae modd mireinio a dwi yn credu bod yr arwyddion cadarnhaol sydd gennym ni rŵan yn rhai y dylid gweithredu arnyn nhw cyn gynted ag y bo modd.