Coronavirus rules have changed in both Wales and England following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new regulations on Saturday after two Omicron cases were detected in Essex and Nottingham. He said the strain spreads "very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated".
The measures brought in by Mr Johnson mean England will be in line with Wales' rules on masks. And the Welsh Government has said it will match the England changes to travel rules.
Here are the changes announced by Mr Johnson:
- All international arrivals must take a Day Two PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
- All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of their vaccination status. They will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace.
- Face coverings will be made compulsory in shops and on public transport from next week. All hospitality settings will be exempt.
Travel restrictions have been implemented to slow the spread of the variant. From 4am on Sunday South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola will be added to the UK’s travel red list.
Anyone coming into the UK from one of those countries will need to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. The new measures will be reviewed within three weeks.
The Welsh Government confirmed it will introduce travel restrictions in line with those announced by Mr Johnson.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said on Saturday: “We have repeatedly raised our concerns with the UK Government about its decision to relax international travel rules quickly, precisely because of the risk of introducing new variants into the UK.
"We also warned against the removal of PCR tests for returning travellers. We will be introducing the same measures on international travel as those announced this afternoon by the UK Government and the other devolved governments.
“Welsh Ministers will continue to meet this evening and over the weekend to monitor the situation in Wales and decide whether any further immediate action is required to protect public health.”
England's Health Secretary Sajid Javid has asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to consider rapidly extending boosters, as well as reducing the gap between the second dose and booster.
This could mean people under 40 being offered a third jab, and third jabs coming earlier than six months after the second.
Targeted testing and contact tracing of England's identified Omicron cases is now underway. Early indications suggest this variant may be more transmissible than the Delta strain and current vaccines may be less effective against it. A rapid rise in infections in South Africa has been attributed to the spread of Omicron.
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