People in Wales could see further restrictions before Christmas, the country's chief medical officer has said.
With just weeks before festive celebrations would usually begin, Dr Frank Atherton has expressed that he is "really worried" about rising coronavirus cases in Wales.
He told a press conference that the question of whether new restrictions imposed last week in Wales are enough "is a really important one".
"We are at risk of getting into the Christmas period with rates much higher than we had anticipated or had hoped," he said.
"Ministers are considering what further things might be possible in the run-up to Christmas, that needs to be considered.
"We also need to think about the Christmas period of managing our risk to make it as low as possible during those five days of Christmas, and then beyond Christmas I just don’t know where we will be.
"We will have to see where the virus transmission is, what the rates are, what the hospital situation looks like, but it may well be that we need to think about further restrictions beyond Christmas."
There are more than 1,800 coronavirus-related patients in Welsh hospitals, with 77 in intensive care units on Tuesday.
Eight local authority areas in Wales reported Covid-19 rates of more than 400 cases per 100,000 people, with cases rising in 19 out of 22 areas. The current England average is 150.1 per 100,000.
Dr Atherton later added: "I've always said that we need to get into Christmas with as low a rate of transmission of coronavirus as possible – that isn’t where we are at the moment.
"So, we have to ask ourselves what more can be done in the short time we have available to us before Christmas."
The Welsh Government is considering “other options”, with the Cabinet meeting this week to look at “other possibilities around schools”, he said.
He has called for people to take “personal responsibility” to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
"I am worried, I’ll be honest, that we still have Christmas fairs and Christmas attractions running in some of our major cities – I think we should be questioning some of that," Dr Atherton said.
"We have to somehow reduce human to human contact if we’re going to get the numbers down before Christmas."
From Friday December 4, pubs, restaurants and cafes have been unable to serve alcohol on their premises, and must close by 6pm.
However, they can offer a takeaway service after 6pm and, if they have an off-licence, sell takeaway alcohol until 10pm.
Indoor entertainment and visitor attractions, such as cinemas, museums and galleries, have also been shut as part of the measures.
