Welsh Government confirms there will be no local lockdowns after firebreak

First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has announced that no local lockdowns will be imposed after the fire-break lockdown. He stated that despite the local lockdowns helping, they “didn’t work well enough”.

This means that non-essential businesses, bars, churches, and cafes will reopen post 9th November.

In the announcement, the First Minister added: “For the sake of clarity and simplicity, our decision is that the other side of the firebreak period from 9 November, we will have a set of national rules that will apply in all parts of Wales.”

The relaxation, however, may not include lifting the travel ban from certain areas of the UK into Wales.

Although the lockdown was introduced to control the spread of the virus, it has been confirmed that 1,700 people have been infected since Friday and there has been an added 1,911 patients admitted to hospitals. A twenty-per-cent jump in the week.

Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, has said that any further plans from the government “must aim to keep R below 1, avoiding a third wave and the need for a further national lockdown”. He also said that: “The Welsh Government must focus on optimising Wales’s own testing capacity through NHS and university laboratories in order to expedite the testing process and facilitate reaching the ’24-hour turnaround’ timescale target”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, about 26,100 people in Wales were infected with the virus in the week up to 23rd October. “If that remains the same, then we will expect to have a similar regime after November 9 as we had prior to October 23” said the First Minister.

Adding to his announcements, Mark Drakeford said that giving any false information to NHS contact tracers will be considered a criminal offence, with fines to be decided. There will also be legal requirements to self-isolate if asked to do so, and employers will not be permitted to prevent people from self-isolating.

Feature Image: Vaughan Gething – Twitter & Mark Drakeford – Twitter 

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