There is going to be a phased reopening of outdoor hospitality and gyms at the end of April according to the First Minister.
Both hospitality and gyms have been closed since before Christmas and last week the Welsh Government said that they would be considered for reopening after April 22.
In an interview with WalesOnline today Mark Drakeford gave some more details on the form that may take for both gyms and hospitality.
They could reopen as late as May 13
Mr Drakeford said that it was unlikely the areas up for consideration on April 22 (expanded social bubbles, gyms, and outdoor hospitality) would all reopen at the same time.
"I think the best guide to the future is the way we have done things already," he said.
"Right now we are in the third week of the current three-week cycle and we have brought things in week by week starting with the return of more children to school, the reopening of hairdressers then moving onto non-essential retail and the lifting of the stay local rule in the third week.
"If you do things one at a time it's easier to see that, if the numbers were to rise, what the cause of that was. That is the way we have done it so far and have taken no decisions about the second half of April.
"If advice to us continues to be 'do things separately' then I imagine that is the advice we will continue to follow."
This means that some of the changes won't necessarily come in until towards the end of the three week cycle on May 13.
All hospitality will reopen together
A recent study by Public Health Wales suggested that restaurants were a lower Covid risk than pubs.
The First Minister has ruled out opening some lower risk hospitality first because he says that will be a confusing message to the public.
"Outdoor hospitality, including restaurants, is on the table for discussion during the second half of April.
"As ever you would want to see how that went wouldn't you? You will want to see whether that has been managed successfully. The next step would be to allow indoor hospitality.
"I think there is such a tension here between wanting to fine-tune the rules against the advice you have while trying to keep a clarity of message and helping people understand what the rules are.
"I am not sure where the balance would come if you tried to distinguish between different types of hospitality."
Indoor hospitably could reopen a month after outdoor hospitality
The Welsh Government has been consistently trying to follow the steps they followed when they reopened last summer.
In the summer of 2020 there was a one month gap between reopening outdoor and indoor hospitality and WalesOnline asked Mark Drakeford if it was unrealistic to think that could happen again?
"I don't think it's unrealistic to think that," he said. "What our own scientists say is that you need three weeks to fully assess the impact.
"You've got to think carefully about that advice and not rush our fences."
Gyms still may open at different times depending on how modern they are
Mark Drakeford had previously indicated that there was research suggesting that smaller, older gyms were a higher risk of spreading the virus and therefore may open later.
Today the First Minister said that was not guaranteed to happen.
He said: "Work is ongoing on that at the moment. I haven't seen the results of it but that was building on advice the Technical Advisory Cell published, which did say that there was a case for not regarding all gyms as the same.
"We are talking to the sector and seeing whether it might be possible to reopen them in a phased way or whether even smaller venues with enough notice can put ventilation and restrictions on numbers in place which will allow them to safely reopen as well."
