It was announced late on Thursday that new coronavirus restrictions are being introduced in Wales from December 27 in a bid to slow the growing threat of the Omicron variant.
On Friday morning, First Minister Mark Drakeford carried out a number of radio and television interviews to explain why the new regulations were needed and warned that there may be more announcements next week.
He revealed that ministers on Monday will be considering further restrictions including a return to the "rule of six" to govern how many people can meet and capacity restrictions for larger events like sports fixtures.
You can follow live updates and reaction as Mr Drakeford gives a press conference following the Welsh Government's latest review of lockdown restrictions here. We've also got the full transcripts of his broadcast interviews earlier today
BBC Breakfast
Q: People can still queue at the bar. What's the thought process there?
Mark Drakeford: "Well, I think it's a nature of the club that people go there in order to be up close and personal. And we know that Omicron is particularly likely to lead to super spreader events where people are packed in together in that way. And I think you can distinguish between nightclubs and the way that bars and restaurants operate."
Q: No restrictions at the moment of the hospitality industry. Could that change?
Mark Drakeford: "Yes, that could change. I want hospitality to re-open after Christmas, but I wanted to do it in a way that gives customers confidence to return to those places.
"We're seeing this week across the United Kingdom. People are voting with their feet because of anxiety about overcrowding. We'll be talking with the sector, about whether we need to re-open with additional protections so that people feel confident that if they do go out to a pub or a restaurant, everything is being done to keep them safe, and what kind of restrictions could they be you talking about"
Q: Rules of Six that that type of thing?
Mark Drakeford: "Yes, we'd go back to the repertoire of things we needed to use earlier in the pandemic, some restrictions on the number of people who can meet, wearing masks when you're moving around inside pubs and restaurants, those sort of things that people are used to and have successfully used in the past.
"Big events, sporting events, the festive period, a big time for the sporting calendar. There no plans for that to change at the moment or we'll be making some announcements about that on Monday.
"The cabinet decided yesterday we needed some extra information about the way that the Omicron variant operates in the outdoors, particularly in places where there are already safeguards like the coronavirus pass in Wales in place. That information we will develop during the day we'll talk to the organisers of those big rugby derbies, the Welsh Grand National, football matches that are planned, and then we'll come to some decisions on Monday as to how they can best go ahead."
Q: You have also written to Westminster asking for money to be freed up if restrictions were put back in place in the devolved nations. You haven't had the response you wanted. Had you had that response? Would you have gone further with the restrictions you're announcing today?
Mark Drakeford: "Well, we can afford ourselves the £60 million we've announced today to support the restrictions we've already announced. But if we need to go further, that would have to be with Treasury support and it's a fundamental unfairness in the system, that if you came in and wanted to do that for England, they will get that money from the Treasury.
"Whereas in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, we haven't got that same opportunity, and that's fundamentally unfair, and it's particularly unfair when the measures that we will be taking on measures necessary to protect public health."
Q: One of the things you've already said is that the virus spreads in households and people mix in households but there's nothing at the moment in terms of restricting people meeting households before Christmas, or after?
Mark Drakeford: "Well there will be strong new guidance issued by the Welsh Government today to people and while there is nothing in law it is strong guidance, which I know people in Wales who are already taking actions to protect themselves for this Christmas.
"People will be looking for that guidance. It's the simple things we know that keep us all safe. We all need to do them in the run up to Christmas.
"A smaller Christmas will be a safer Christmas this year."
Q: Do you think there was some aspect of maybe for people's mental health and not change things last minute the hopes of Christmas?
Mark Drakeford: " Christmas is very important to very many people. We want people to have a good Christmas, but a safe Christmas. And because the numbers are as they are in Wales, Delta still being the dominant variant here. We've got a pathway to Christmas to protect that for people. But we still ask people to do it safely."
Today programme
Mr Drakeford's first interview was on Radio Four's Today programme where Justin Webb was asking the questions.
Q: What is the advice that individuals should follow from today?
Mark Drakeford: "The advice is that people should think very carefully about who they are meeting, and how they are meeting people to keep themselves and others safe as we move towards Christmas. It is basic things like if you're going to a gathering, take a lateral flow test before you go. Think about who you are meeting, particularly if you're meeting somebody who is elderly or vulnerable. Ask yourself could that meeting happen outside rather than inside?
"Make sure you do all the basic things like hand washing and mask wearing simple things that we can each of us do in our own lives, that cumulatively adds up to a genuine level of protection. And that is the advice." The five things Mark Drakeford is asking people to can be found here.
Q: How are the rules going to change at the end of the month?
Mark Drakeford: "Well, after the Christmas period, shops will re-open, offices will re-open, workplaces will re-open in Wales, but the rules will be different.
"So we would expect in supermarkets to see a return to maximum number of people in the store at any one time. One way systems, proper orderly queuing systems at checkouts for example.
"We will reinstate the two metre social distancing arrangements as part of the reasonable measures that workplaces must take. It is back to the sorts of protections that we needed earlier in the pandemic. Wales is in the calm before the storm really, you know, our current numbers are stable, hospital numbers drifting downwards, but we see the storm on the horizon coming our way, and we need to prepare for it now."
Q: Why are you closing nightclub and not pubs after Boxing Day?
Mark Drakeford: "We are choosing nightclubs because of our anxiety about super spreader events. We know that coronavirus in general, but Omicron in particular, thrives in places where there is close contact between people. And that's the nature of a nightclub."
Q: When isn't it the nature of a pub as well?
Mark Drakeford : "I don't think so. Not in exactly the same way. I'm told that like clubs are places that people go to be up close and personal. And that's the purpose of them, and other hospitality venues that we want to re-open after Christmas. We will be working with the sector when they to reopen.
"We have to have some new protections in place to give people confidence to go to them. We're already seeing this week that people are not going out in the way that they were because they're fearful of Omicron. If we want the sector to reopen after Christmas successfully, we may have to put more protections in place to give people confidence that they will be safe in those settings."
Q: Are you getting enough help from Westminster enough financial backing from Westminster to do all the things you want to do when it comes to assisting sectors and indeed having closures but making sure that that those closures don't completely damage sectors? Are you getting the help that you need to do that?
Mark Drakeford : "Well, there's a fundamental unfairness in the system. If UK ministers acting for England, decided that they need to introduce restrictions in businesses, money from the Treasury will flow.
"If I were to do the same, or the First Minister of Northern Ireland or Scotland were to do the same, there is no guarantee at all, but that would happen at that point directly to Treasury ministers this week, and it's very clear they will not provide a guarantee. But if public health measures were needed in devolved governments, that the same rules would apply here it is that stopping illustrated."
Q: Is that stopping you doing things that you would like to do?
Mark Drakeford: "While we're providing £60million to small businesses with the things that we've announced already, if we need to go beyond that, it's only the Treasury that has the firepower to provide support for wages for workers who would be directly affected. While we're able to ourselves finance these measures, we would be unable to go beyond them without the sort of Treasury help that would be available in England, and isn't being guaranteed to us."
BBC Radio Wales
The First Minister then went ton to BBC Radio Wales to be interviewed by Oliver Hides.
Q:
Mark Drakeford: "At the moment the Delta variant continues to be the dominant one in Wales, numbers are stable and the impact on the health service continues to reduce slowly and that means that from here until Christmas, we are confident that we can more or less continue as we are.
"We will be issuing some strong guidance to people in Wales as to how we can all stay safe to and through Christmas, but although at the moment things are calm, we see the storm brewing. Omicron is already here in Wales, and everything we are learning tells us that once that storm begins to gather, we will see that come into Wales very quickly and rise very sharply and we have to prepare for that now.
"That is why shops will re-open, offices will re-open, businesses will re-open in Wales after the Christmas break but the rules will be different. There'll be new protections there so that we can continue to stay safe in the face of this new variant." The new rules for supermarkets here.
Q: If there is a storm coming, why not be strict and I think they understood the difficulty of the decision that you're making. But if you're trying to buy time as well, to get the to get the booster rolled out, why not be stricter with people now and why put in things that are only advisory, not mandatory?
Mark Drakeford: "I think you've got to be proportionate to the circumstances you are facing in order to demonstrate that you're being fair with everybody.
"This week in Wales, we believe that Delta variant will continue to be dominant in Wales. Our own record numbers are the lowest anywhere in the United Kingdom. And in London and in Scotland, the numbers are far higher than they are in Wales.
"There are no plans to take action this side of Christmas either. So given our slightly more favourable position, we think that, provided people do act on the advice, we are given them to take those simple steps or keep each other safe, then that will give us a path into Christmas that is reasonable for us all but because we see the gathering storm, we will take action. We are the first government in the United Kingdom to say that after Christmas, the rules will have to be different."
Q:If it weren't for Christmas, would your instinct have been maybe to tighten things up more? Did you feel your hands were tied decision making here?
Mark Drakeford: "I don't think they're tight yet. And these are really difficult judgements. So you know, the case you make is a real one and it was powerfully rehearsed in our cabinet when we met twice, yesterday. But in the end, it's the figures that we are seeing that have provided the context so we are doing you can't ignore the fact that it is Christmas and what a special time of the year it is for so many people.
"The balancing act is a really challenging one. Our belief was that in the circumstances we see in Wales, that powerful advice to people about the things we can all do to keep ourselves safe would be sufficient over the next week. But immediately after Christmas, further action would be needed. You can make another case I totally understand that. But all of it is a balancing act."
Q: Did you come out of it at the end of all of that yesterday with the position that you were seeking to impose at the beginning, was everybody on the same side with this?
Mark Drakeford: "We make sure that the cabinet here has every opportunity it leads to ask all the questions we might want to ask of our medical and scientific advisors to explore all the arguments that you need to explore when you're making these difficult decisions.
"The cabinet met on Sunday, on Monday, at 9am yesterday morning, at 4pm yesterday afternoon. I never want anybody in my cabinet to feel that we've come into a decision without having explored it from every angle, that we think is necessary and we're you were united on this in the end, as I would have done it.
"he process of discussion does create consensus. And people do change their views that creates compromise. If it's compromised, you have to then ask whether this set of measures is the best thing for public health or is it is it the best thing for consensus."
"I try to create the conditions in which people can cohere around a particular set of decisions because the ministers have to make decisions on the seven day decision making cycle. Yesterday was the day when finally we had to resolve the issues that we've now reported to everybody in Wales today. That is a complex process. But I'm always determined to make sure that everybody has the time they need to explore these difficult issues. And then to come together with a package of measures that everybody is confident to support."
Q: Are there any plans for further measures before Christmas and any plans to move alert level at any point?
Mark Drakeford : "Immediately after Christmas, we are drawing on measures in Alert Level Two, so we are moving in terms of alert levels and those measures that will be put in place in shops, in offices and will look like level two measures.
"It's inevitable that we're going to have to throw on things that are higher up that hierarchy, but it is not a wholesale move to Level Two but I think it could also include extended households, rule of six rules and hospitality."
Q: Why not move to level two wholesale?
Mark Drakeford: "We are not ruling some of those things. We will learn an awful lot more over the next ten days for some of those things. We didn't feel we had all the information we would need to be able to make those determinations at this point."
Q: When might you make a decision on those then?
Mark Drakeford: "Well, we'll be making decisions on some issues as early as Monday there are major sporting events planned immediately after Christmas. We're getting further advice on Omicron and how it operates in the open air when you have large crowds of people coming together.
"We will have to weigh that up against the safeguards that are already there and come to decisions on those matters on Monday and to next week. Cabinet will continue to be engaged in these things, as we see the evidence emerging very concerning evidence from London and from Scotland at a rapid speed with which Omicron is taking hold, and there is a rising numbers of people needing hospital treatment.
"We're not in that position in Wales, but we have to learn the lessons from what we're seeing elsewhere."
Q: So it's possible you might be back with me. One morning next week, then announcing further restrictions from the 27th. Is that what you're saying?
Mark Drakeford: "Yes, I can't rule that out. We are not looking for restrictions for the sake of restrictions, but if we find out as the weeks as the days go on, that the plans we've already announced need to be further strengthened. Those are difficult decisions and they're not popular decisions with some people.
"If we believe they are necessary to save people's lives and to protect the NHS, I will be back with you again."
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