Statement on behalf of the WNP board.

Today, the 12th of March, the board of Propel took the decision to postpone the scheduled launch of the Propel Wales, which was due to take place on the 3rd of April in Cardiff.

The board has been following the Coronavirus outbreak very closely. In Italy and globally the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a pandemic. The Italian Government has closed nearly all shops, except food stores and pharmacies, while major sporting events have been suspended. In Denmark, the Danish Government has urged the cancellation of events with more than 100 people and is to close all schools and universities.

The UK Government, meanwhile, continues to allow large gatherings of people, recently confirmed by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer in England.

As a party we have opted to follow the advice of the WHO, who are calling for “urgent and aggressive action” to suppress and control the outbreak. We feel such action is particularly urgent now there are 19 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales, with the first confirmed transmission within the community.

More than 100 people had registered for the launch of Propel on the first day registration was made available. The board, therefore, considered it highly likely we would reach the 250 person capacity at the venue. Many of those planning to attend were elderly, some of whom have pre-existing medical conditions.

We take our responsibility for people’s health and safety extremely seriously and we also take our responsibility to our health professionals seriously, who are likely to be overwhelmed with cases of Coronavirus in the coming weeks.

Propel will continue to take any action we can to protect people’s health and lessen the burden on the Welsh National Health Service.

The board will continue to monitor the outbreak, with an aim to formally launching Propel later on this year.