Covid-19 in Wales: Mass testing a 'waste of resources'

Continuing mass testing in Wales could be a 'massive-scale of waste of resources', a leading public health expert has said. Figures show less than 1.5% of people were testing positive as part of pilots in Merthyr Tydfil and the lower Cynon Valley. Dr Angela Raffle said there was little evidence to suggest it helped cut transmission. First Minister Mark Drakeford said mass testing 'has a part to play'. Dr Raffle, a senior lecturer in population sciences at Bristol University, said mass testing was 'incredibly resource intensive'. 'We simply don't know whether you'll find enough cases who would have transmitted a lot, and who don't [transmit Covid-19] simply because you found them,' she said. 'And we don't know whether telling lots of people they're negative could actually undermine any potential benefit.'