On Monday it was revealed that the proportion of people testing positive for coronavirus had dropped below 10% for the first time in many weeks.
The figure (9.8%), for the seven-day average between January 28 and February 3, was a drop on the 10.2% recorded on Sunday and is now way below the 25% seen at the winter peak.
A testing positivity rate below 10% is one of the key markers the Welsh Government has set to move the country from the current alert level 4 (very high risk) restrictions down to level 3 (high risk) which would lead to schools, non-essential retail, hospitality and gyms opening again.
Here's the indicators that decide if Wales should be at level 4 restrictions - and the situation currently:
- Confirmed case rate more than 300 cases per 100,000 people over a rolling seven-day average: Case rate is now well below that at 116.4 per 100,000).
- Confirmed case rates for over 60s suggesting rapid growth: The case rate in this category is falling.
- Projection of future case incidence rates over next two weeks anticipating significant rises to more than 500 cases per 100,000 people: The case rate shows no signs of rising currently
- Test positivity above 10% over seven days: It's now below this figure.
- A reliable estimate of the R rate at one or above: The most recent estimate from Sage is that R is between 0.7 and 0.9 in Wales.
Health and social care under significant pressure and not sustainable, elective procedures are being cancelled across the board and capacity limits reached or about to be breached: This is still the case.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said the headroom the Welsh Government had to lift restrictions further remained "limited" as hospitals were still under significant pressure.
"Even with the good news of reducing hospital admissions, we're actually still at about 123% of our critical care capacity today," he said.
"So the headroom we have is still limited, and that's why we'll take a measured, managed and cautious approach as we do - I hope - take further steps out of the extraordinary control measures we've had to introduce to keep Wales safe."
Mr Gething, speaking on the day coronavirus deaths exceeded 5,000, stressed that schools would be the "first priority" as lockdown restrictions were eased.
"The foundation phase up to year two should be going back into our primary schools after half term. And that's really good news for all of us whether you have children in school or not as it shows we're able to unlock some of those areas of activity," he said.
"There will be more mixing of children in schools, but it's actually the impact of adult interaction that probably makes an even bigger difference.
"That's why the message around continuing to do the right thing is so important, and as we see further falls that are sustained - as we hope they will be - even after schools open we can then take further steps too.
"There are quite a lot of children and other young people who have missed out on a great deal in the last year or so, including those who would be looking forward to achieving a qualification at the end of this academic year.
"So there's lots for us to think about and do as we further unlock not just the world of education but I hope further options in the future. I won't forecast when those will be because we need to see the evidence before us."
Find out about coronavirus cases in your area:
The minister added that the new variant strains which had been discovered recently, were "worrying" and an "unwanted twist in this pandemic".
"We have a world-class genomic sequencing system in place in Wales to help us detect these," he said.
" However, we also need strong border controls and quarantine arrangements to stop them entering the UK in the first place.
"Where there are cases in Wales, we will do everything we can to identify cases, investigate them and prevent their further spread.
"This is what we are doing in the two cases of the South African variant in Conwy and Neath Port Talbot which have no apparent links to international travel."
