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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Nicola Bartlett & Lydia Morris

Coronavirus: Welsh Government tightens lockdown restrictions

The Welsh government is ramping up restrictions on those tempted to travel to second homes over the weekend.

Ministers say the stay-at-home regulations have been revised "to continue to prevent the spread of  coronavirus. "

The key change however is that people now cannot now leave or remain away from their main residence

It comes ahead of an announcement by the First Minister Mark Drakeford of a new framework and seven key questions to help lead Wales out of the pandemic.

This will help determine when the right time comes for the stay-at-home restrictions to be eased.

The government says the changes, which come into effect this weekend, will help clarify that those who leave their home with a reasonable excuse - such as going to buy food, for healthcare or work - can’t remain outside to do other things.

There are some new relaxed rules that also allow people with health conditions or disabilities to leave home to exercise more than once a day.

This will help families with children with learning disabilities and autism in particular.

The changes announced today will also allow some businesses in Wales to re-open and operate "click and collect" services.

(Jonathan Myers)

Mr Drakeford said that when the time is right lockdown could be left in three phases "like a traffic light in reverse".

The red phase would see only "the most careful and controlled lifting of restrictions", he told BBC Radio Wales.

The amber zone would see more restrictions lifted and, if the virus is not re-emerging, Wales could then move to the green zone, he said.

This period "would look much more like the lives we had before the crisis hit," Mr Drakeford told Radio Wales Breakfast with Oliver Hides.

Asked when Wales might enter the red zone, the first minister said "I hope we will be in a position to do that at the end of the current three-week lockdown period".

However he warned this would only happen if Wales had met the tests set out in the Welsh Government's framework for exiting the lockdown, which will be published later on Friday.

"We will had to have had hospital admissions falling consistently for 14 days.

"They have been falling over the last week so it's not impossible that we will get to that point and in that case we can move into the red zone."

Other changes, that will come into force from midnight on Saturday, include: 

  • Applying the 2m physical distancing duty on premises used for 'click and collect' services – this duty is already in place for other workplaces, which remain open.
  • Widening the definition of vulnerable person to include other specific groups or conditions where people could benefit from assistance and to whom providing supplies is a reasonable excuse for another person to leave home (for example, people with dementia).
  • Extending the physical distancing duty to cafés accessible by the public in hospitals, and those responsible for canteens in schools, prisons and for use by the armed forces, to ensure all reasonable measures are put in place.
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