THE LEADER of Pembrokeshire County Council has issued the first of his regular updates for the New Year. Cllr David Simpsons full message is as follows:

Hello everyone, welcome to my first Leader’s Update of 2022

Let me start by firstly wishing you a happy and healthy New Year and thanking you for your efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19 over the festive season.

It has been heartening to hear of the numbers of people getting boosted over the past few weeks and I thank everyone working and volunteering to help get jabs into arms.

Walk-in vaccination centres are open across the Hywel Dda University Health Board region. See: https://hduhb.nhs.wales/healthcare/covid-19-information/covid-19-vaccination-programme/mass-vaccination-centres/ for more information and join the thousands coming forward every day.

With such a rapidly changing situation due to omicron, it is no surprise that there have been a series of changes to self isolation measures and testing introduced over recent days.

I will recap some of the major announcements.

Now, a person showing no symptoms who has a positive lateral flow test will no longer be advised to have a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result, unless they are in a clinically vulnerable group,

Also, people who are un-vaccinated contacts of positive cases and are self-isolating for 10 days should now take a lateral flow test on day two and day eight instead of a PCR test.

Without a follow up PCR test it is even more important for people to report the result of every lateral flow test they do and self-isolate as soon as they test positive.

Without reporting, contact tracing will not be possible, nor will advice and support be provided by the system.

We need everyone to continue to play their part in disrupting the transmission of Covid-19 by reporting their lateral flow test results on the gov.uk website or by calling 119.

The Welsh Government has also this week launched an eligibility checker for the £120m omicron business support package.

The application window will open in the week commencing Monday 17 January 2022.

The Welsh Government statement on the funding package is here:

https://gov.wales/emergency-covid-financial-support-businesses

To access the eligibility checker, see: https://fundchecker.businesswales.gov.wales/businesssupport

Details on how to register / apply will be placed on the Pembrokeshire County Council business support pages in due course: https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/business-advice-and-support

As I write, our schools are re-opening after the Christmas break.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in our schools, including all staff, learners and parents, plus those supporting in our education department.

We have returned some of the measures seen previously to continue to slow the spread of the virus.

Most notably this includes masks in all areas, including classrooms in secondary schools, and contact groups or ‘bubbles’.  

Please ensure you keep in contact with your school(s) social media or others communication methods where they will keep you up to date with the latest information.

Please stay safe and continue to support one another.