First Minister Mark Drakeford says he will be making an announcement on the reopening of indoor hospitality in Wales this Friday.
Outdoor hospitality and tourism will reopen on Monday but many pubs, cafes and restaurants cannot viably trade using just outdoor spaces.
Currently in Wales, Welsh Government has said it expects indoor hospitality to open ahead of the spring half term which starts on May 28.
Hospitality and tourism groups as well as Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have called for the sector to open indoors on May 17 - two weeks earlier than planned.
Last night Mr Drakeford was asked on BBC Wales's Ask The Leader programme if Wales would follow England's lead on indoor hospitality with a May 17 opening.
It comes as Wales has the lowest infection rates and highest vaccination rates of all the UK nations. The infection rate across Wales now stands at 15.4 cases per 100,000 people for the seven days up to April 15.
On indoor hospitality, Mr Drakeford said: "I will making an announcement about that on Friday.
"I want to do it in the orderly way that we do,
"That decision will lie the other side of the election, but I will set out what a Labour government would do in the three weeks that follow the election, as we have regularly given a forward signal to indoor hospitality, to the rest of the tourism industry and other things about what we think the public health context would now allow."
The Senedd election takes place on May 6 so those 'three weeks' would take Wales close to the end of that month.
Obviously how and when those next steps are implemented will also depend on the outcome of the election with Welsh Conservatives and Plaid Cymru already pointing to May 17 if the health situation remains positive.
There is also a £200m Covid funding pot set aside for businesses for the next Welsh Government with many firms desperate for additional support after over 12 months of lockdowns and restrictions.
Janet Finch-Saunders – the Welsh Conservative candidate for Aberconwy – has urged the Welsh Government to allow indoor hospitality to trade from May 17.
She said: "Wales continues to trail behind other areas of the UK because of Welsh Labour’s insistence on playing politics. It makes little sense, when pubs in other parts of the UK have re-opened, for Welsh Labour to insist on them remaining firmly shut here in Wales.
“The Welsh Conservatives have previously published a cautious, yet detailed, roadmap outlining how we would have reopened pubs as well as other sectors in the economy, including gyms.”
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said: "The hospitality sector has suffered more than most since the beginning of the pandemic and has shown unbelievable resilience despite repeated periods of opening and reopening.
"Allowing hospitality to reopen indoors, with appropriate measures in place, will put a spring in the step of Welsh businesses."
