Vulnerable people in Wales advised to shield at home due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic should continue to do so until March 31, the First Minister has announced.
Mark Drakeford said on Friday the advice for extremely clinically vulnerable people to stay at home and not go to work or school was being extended into the spring.
During the latest Covid-19 briefing for Wales he said: “The advice for people who are extremely clinically vulnerable – the shielded group – not to go to work or school outside the home is also being extended to March 31. We will all need to stay at home – and work from home – for a little while longer."
While Mr Drakeford said "very real progress" had been made during the ongoing alert level four lockdown, with the Wales-wide infection rate dropping from a peak of more than 600 cases per 100,000 people to a rate of 175 cases per 100,000 people on Friday, the rate of cases was "still high" and as such it was too soon to start lifting the restrictions.
He said the "majority of cases in most parts of Wales" will be the new and highly contagious strain of Covid-19 "which has swept across the country".
The First Minister struck an optimistic note on the progress of the vaccine programme rollout in Wales, saying the process was "getting faster and faster with every day that goes by". More than 362,000 people have now had their first dose of a vaccine against the virus and over the past week "someone has been vaccinated every five seconds in Wales".
During the latest Welsh Government Covid-19 briefing Mr Drakeford also shared his plan for some school pupils to return to the classroom from next month and confirmed that two people from different households living locally will now be allowed to meet to exercise.
You can follow all the latest coronavirus news, including details of the questions the First Minister faced at the briefing and how he responded, with our live coverage here and you can read his speech in full by going here.
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