In just 3 days time the Welsh Government will be announcing the latest review on lockdown restrictions across Wales
It is hoped that more easing of rules surrounding the pandemic will be announced but at this stage it appears that any changes made by the by First Minister will be careful, small and gradual.
Changes that we are likely to see come into force on Friday include allowing primary school pupils of all ages and some older students in secondary school and college back to face to face learning.
Wales wait with bated breath regarding restrictions on non-essential retail and close contact services such as hairdressers and tattoo artists.
But we are hoping for ‘stay at home’ to be lifted to ‘stay local’
“I said two weeks ago at the last review that I hoped this will be the last three weeks of the stay at home regulation. Mr Drakeford told BBC radio Wales
“So, that is what we will be trying to make happen on Friday of this week.
“We will be looking carefully at whether an intermediate period of stay local – people are used to that, we had a period of that last year in Wales – would be a first step on a journey.”
He added: “In Wales, that is how we are trying to approach the whole business – carefully, cautiously, step by step, not doing too many things at once – so that we can monitor the impact of changes, and then restore more freedoms to people and to the economy once we are confident it’s safe to do so.”
Work, buying essentials or exercise have bee n the only valid reasons to leave your home in Wales since December and while exercise has been permitted, driving to do so is not.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething has also stated rules requiring people to stay in their local areas were being considered.
“We have said we may be able to lift stay at home. We are considering what that then means. We are thinking about whether there will be a stay local period or whether there should be travel permitted across the whole of Wales. That is a choice that the government needs to make and we haven’t concluded that.
“But there are, I think, very easy to understand arguments about why we would want to have a period of ‘stay local’ before moving to wider travel and it is important to remember that at this point in time the restrictions in England mean that people shouldn’t be travelling from England into Wales. We know that the reality of essential travel for work is one thing but there shouldn’t be travel for leisure at this point in time.”
What restrictions have been lifted so far?
The Welsh Government’s last review of lockdown restrictions on February 19 saw only minor changes to the rules.
On Monday, February 22, the youngest pupils aged three to seven returned to the classroom.
Four people from two different households were allowed to meet outdoors for socially distanced exercise.
Licensed wedding venues were allowed to re-open, but only to perform wedding and civil partnership ceremonies. Arrangements were also made for athletes to resume training.
Public Health Wales published on Sunday, March 7
152 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the latest 24-hour period,
43 less than what was reported on Saturday.
Making the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 204,886.
The number of people who have died with coronavirus in Wales within a month of a positive test now stands at 5,403.
Yesterday no deaths with the cause being Corona Virus were recorded for the first time during the second wave