Wales brings in new coronavirus restrictions as firebreak lockdown ends

Wales was in a short, sharp lockdown for 17 days (Picture: PA/Getty)

Wales is waking up to new coronavirus measures after a 17-day ‘firebreak’ lockdown ended at midnight. 

Groups of up to four people can now meet up in cafes, pubs and restaurants, while shops, gyms, hairdressers and places of worship will also reopen.

A 10pm curfew on alcohol sales will return, though drinkers will be required to prove their home address, amid concerns that the English could flout their lockdown rules and travel to Wales for a drink. Meanwhile, supermarkets can again sell non-essential goods after a row which saw large stores taping off items deemed luxury.

But there is nervousness from some quarters about coming out of the short, sharp lockdown, with Covid-19 deaths and cases remaining stubbornly high. Experts had projected that the numbers were unlikely to drop, since many of the current new cases and deaths are a result of transmission from weeks ago – and any positive impact is yet to be seen. 

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First Minister Mark Drakeford urged the Welsh public to reduce the number of people they see as well as time spent with them, warning that ‘we cannot go back to the way we were living our lives’.

The Welsh are now only be allowed to meet up inside homes with members of one other household if they have joined into a bubble.

Mr Drakeford said: ‘We all need to think about our own lives and what we can all do to keep our families safe. We need to stop thinking about the maximum limit of rules and regulations.

‘Coronavirus is a highly infectious virus – it thrives on contact between people. To keep each other safe we need to reduce the number of people we have contact with and the amount of time we spend with them.’

People wearing masks walk through the centre of Cardiff on October 23, hours before Wales went into a firebreak lockdown (Picture: AFP)

He continued: ’There will be a new set of national measures from today, which will follow up all the hard work and sacrifices which have been made during the firebreak.

‘We cannot go back to the way we were living our lives and throw away all that hard work.’

There are no restrictions on travel within Wales, but people will not be allowed to travel outside of the country unless they have a ‘reasonable excuse’ like going to work.

Mr Drakeford has previously said the end of Wales’s firebreak just four days after England entered into a month-long lockdown would create the hardest border between the countries for ‘several centuries’.

The Welsh Labour leader also suggested people’s behaviours and actions would be more important in controlling the spread of the virus than the new rules and regulations.

The Welsh will need a good reason to go into England, while foreign travel will also be discouraged (Picture: Getty Images)

Children’s clothes in a supermarket near Cardiff are deemed non-essential items and are cordoned off last month (Picture: PA)

It comes weeks after Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose a similar ‘circuit-breaker’ two week lockdown over half term from Westminster.

Sir Keir’s calls followed advice from the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) being ignored in September, before a harsher month-long lockdown was brought in last Thursday. 

The final week of Wales’s lockdown saw the number of Covid-19 hospital admissions surpass the levels of the previous peak of the virus in April.

The Welsh Government also faced calls to extend restrictions in areas of the south Wales valleys including Merthyr Tydfil – which became the worst-hit area of the UK last week with 741 cases per 100,000 people – as high levels of transmissions continue to rise.

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Wales’s new national measures from Monday include:

• The need to maintain two-metre social distancing and wear face masks in enclosed public places, including on public transport and taxis.
• The requirement to work from home whenever possible will remain.
• People should only meet with their bubble in their own home and only two households will be able to form a bubble. If one person from either household develops symptoms, everyone should immediately self-isolate.
• People will be able to meet in groups of up to four people from separate households (not including any children aged under 11) in regulated indoor places, such as hospitality – bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants.
• Up to 15 people can take part in an organised indoor activity and up to 30 in an organised activity outdoors, providing all social distancing, hand hygiene and other Covid-19 safety measures are followed.
• People should avoid non-essential travel as much as possible. There will be no legal restrictions on travel within Wales for residents, but international travel should be for essential reasons only.
• Primary schools and years seven and eight in secondary schools remained open during the lockdown apart from the half-term break, but all schools and year groups will resume from Monday.
• Universities will resume a combination of in-person teaching and blended learning.

Meanwhile, Mr Drakeford has said the UK must make plans for Christmas together, as he called on the Government to make good on its promise for the four nations to meet and discuss a single approach.

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