The coronavirus morning headlines for Thursday, February 4, as there are calls for mass testing to be carried out in Wales after cases of the South African variant has been found in people who have not travelled abroad.
Officials had previously said there were 10 confirmed cases of the more infectious South African version of Covid-19 in Wales, all linked to travel. Current vaccines do not give the same breadth of immunity to the new variant although they provide some protection.
Wales Health Minister Vaughan Gething revealed on Wednesday that three more had since been identified which had no known link to South Africa or international travel. The cases are in Anglesey, Conwy and Neath Port Talbot. He said work was urgently being carried out to establish how those three people contracted the variant.
Surge testing is taking place door-to-door in some small communities in England where at least 105 cases of the variant have been found - but Mr Gething says ministers were considering more targeted testing in Wales.
Welsh Conservatives MS, Janet Finch Saunders said the Welsh Government should consider "door-to-door testing" in the parts of Wales where the South African Covid variant had been identified.
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said there should be "whole-community testing" in the three areas.
Public Health Wales said the three cases under investigation also had no contact with anyone else who had the variant.
Josh Adams suspended from Wales Six Nations squad
Wales winger Josh Adams has been released from the Wales squa d after being suspended for the first two matches of the Six Nations following a breach of Covid-19 protocols.
After the full squad were released from camp on Saturday afternoon, Adams attended a gender reveal gathering with his immediate family present on Sunday.
After the squad joined back up together on Tuesday at the Vale Resort, the breach was immediately raised and acted upon with Adams now out of Wales' opening fixtures against Ireland and Scotland.
"We are extremely disappointed with the breach and have acted robustly and swiftly to take all appropriate measures," said Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
"All players and management have received detailed briefings and education regarding our protocols, and everyone has a responsibility to abide by the rules.
"On this occasion, Josh has made an error of judgement. He made a mistake and he has shown immediate remorse.
Coronavirus infection rate continues to fall
Another 50 people have died with coronavirus in Wales in the past 24 hours as the infection rate across the country continues to fall.
Latest figures from Public Health Wales (PHW) published on Wednesday, February 3, show 455 new cases of the virus have been recorded to bring the total since the pandemic began to 193,681. It's the smallest number of cases reported in a day since October 6, four months ago.
The number of people who have now died with the virus in Wales has now reached 4,832.
Following the latest figures the Wales infection rate is now down to 127 per 100,000 population for the seven days up to January 29. That is a decrease on the 131.1 previously reported.
Dr Giri Shankar from Public Health Wales warned on Tuesday that while the all-Wales picture is one of falling cases there are some areas of concern, especially in North Wales. Ceredigion now has the lowest seven-day infection rate in the whole of the UK, according to the latest available data.
Dr Shankar said: "Although the data currently shows that on an all-Wales level the numbers of cases are reducing and that the incidence is now below 150 cases per 100,000 population the rates in some areas – particularly in north Wales – are still at more than double that.
“The pressure on our hospitals is still severe and shows no signs of easing yet so it is extremely important that everyone sticks to the rules and stays at home as much as possible."
PHW data shows 462,497 people have now received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of 10pm on Tuesday, up 22,857 on the figure published 24 hours earlier. Some 1,160 people have now received both of their vaccine jabs.
Cases in your area by postcode:
The Kirsty Williams interview
It is too early to say when schools will re-open full time to all pupils - and it is possible some may not even go back next term, Wales’ Education Minister has admitted.
Although the plan is to start getting the youngest children aged up to seven back into classrooms some of the time, that depends on the situation with the pandemic and pressure on the NHS, Kirsty Williams said.
She is looking at changing academic year dates for the next school year and repeated her intention to look at using school holidays to help children catch up after a year of disrupted learning.
The summer holiday could be shortened to enable a longer "firebreak" half term or extended Christmas holiday in the new academic year.
Acknowledging that being out of school and college is having a negative impact on children and young people Ms Williams insisted it was essential, for now, to stop the pandemic getting out of control..
The minister said a range of indicators were being looked at when deciding to keep classrooms shut to most pupils. Read the full interview here.
Schools in England won't open before March 8
England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said the UK was "past the peak" of the current wave of the pandemic and that cases should continue on a "downward slope" as long as people continued to follow the rules on social-distancing.
Mr Johnson, however, has continued to resist calls from some Tory MPs to bring forward the planned re-opening of schools in England from March 8.
The Prime Minister said it was three weeks after the date when the most vulnerable groups - including all over 70s - should have received their first jab, giving time for immunity to kick in.
In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said schools will begin a phased reopening from February 22 while the Welsh Government is due to make a decision by the end of the week on whether to reopen schools after the February half-term.
However, the Prime Minister said infection levels remained "forbiddingly high" and they did not want to be "forced into reverse".
"We think this is the prudent and cautious approach. I think it is much better to stick to that," he said.
Mr Johnson also said that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be setting out further details on Thursday of the Government's plans for quarantine hotels for travellers arriving in England.
Downing Street later made clear that no announcements on borders would be planned for the day.
Ministers have been under fire for failing to come forward with details as to when the scheme will come into effect, a week after it was first announced.
Government backs study into mixed Covid vaccine doses
A government-backed study is being launched to determine whether different coronavirus vaccines can safely be used for the first and second doses.
The programme, which has received £7 million in funding from the Government's Vaccine Taskforce, aims to establish whether a mixed-dose vaccine regimen is better than, or a good alternative to, using two doses of the same Covid-19 jab.
The launch comes after England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned the pace of the vaccine rollout will inevitably slow as more people get their second jab.
At a No 10 news conference on Wednesday he said suggestions all adults in the UK could get their first dose by the end of May and the second by the end of August were "very optimistic".
Boris Johnson has hailed the "colossal" effort by health workers in getting a first jab to more than 10 million people - almost a fifth of the adult population - across the four nations.
However, England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who is the senior responsible officer for the new study, said that being able to mix vaccines would give them greater flexibility in future.
"Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme, if needed and if approved by the medicines regulator," he said.
"It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer; unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial we just won't know."
International travel had major impact on first wave death rates
International travel had the biggest impact on death rates for countries which were worst hit during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a study suggests.
Researchers from the University of Aberdeen examined a range of factors including border arrivals, population density, the percentage of people living in urban areas, age, average body mass index and smoking prevalence.
They found an increase of a million international arrivals was associated with a 3.4% rise in the mean daily increase in Covid-19 deaths during the first wave of the pandemic across the 37 worst-hit countries.
On Wednesday, Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething played down hopes of foreign holidays this summer.
He said he was also "optimistic", but more about being able to holiday in Wales and the UK rather than on a foreign holiday, saying: “I am optimistic that people will be able to have a holiday break of some kind over the summer. I wouldn’t want to forecast where that would be, whether you have to stay within Wales or the UK.
“The challenge is that we know from this summer, international travel to mainland Europe caused lots of mixing and a reintroduction of coronavirus into the UK.
“It helped to spread the growth of the virus through the autumn. We are all still going to have to make responsible choices."
