'The last six weeks have been the most difficult that many of us will have experienced in our lives'

THE last six weeks have been the most difficult that many of us will have experienced in our lives.

Coronavirus is something that we hadn’t considered at Christmas, but has now changed everything about how we live our lives, how we work and our relationships with family and neighbours.

The rules that the Welsh Government has introduced are now beginning to work, and the number of coronavirus cases across Gwent is declining, although the toll the virus has taken on our communities and our country has been truly heartbreaking and our thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one to this disease.

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Throughout this period, we have all been moved by the dedication and commitment of our NHS staff who are treating the sick, our carers who are looking after the elderly and the vulnerable and the other key workers who are keeping us moving: drivers who get people to key services, shop staff who make sure there’s food and supplies on the shelves, workers in essential firms who are producing the goods we need to see us through and many more: we owe every single one of these people an immense debt of gratitude.

What’s vitally important now is that we continue to do everything we can to stop the virus from spreading and to protect our NHS by following the public health guidance.

The Welsh Government’s message remains crystal clear: “Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives”.

I’ve been continuing to hold regular meetings with the health board and the police to monitor the situation in the borough.

With the risk remaining high, it is absolutely correct that the restrictions remain in place and I am grateful to Gwent Police for enforcing these firmly but fairly, taking the steps needed to protect public health and ensure public support.

The wellbeing of elderly and vulnerable residents in care homes is of concern to many people, so I have written to the managers of homes across Blaenau Gwent to express our gratitude for the hard work and compassion of our social care staff and to make sure they’ve got the support and the resources they require to keep their staff and residents safe.

I have also written to the main supermarkets to thank everyone working in our shops across the borough and follow up on queries that I’ve received about priority queuing for NHS workers and social distancing measures to keep customers and staff safe, while I am pursuing any queries that people, businesses and organisations have on different issues.

The last two months have been exceptionally difficult, but the measures we are continuing to observe are helping to save the lives of our families, our friends and our neighbours and we must do everything we can to stick to them.

Contact Alun Davies' office on 01495 311 160 or Alun.Davies@senedd.wales