Wales To Extend Coronavirus Lockdown For Three Weeks

Wales to extend coronavirus lockdown for three weeks – but schools may reopen after February half-term.

WALES’ lockdown is set to last another three weeks but the country’s youngest pupils could return to school after February half-term. The Welsh Government has said coronavirus rates are “improving” but another three weeks of Level 4 restrictions are needed to “allow the NHS to recover.”

Authorities review the situation every 21 days, and on Wednesday chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton said a Wales-wide easing of lockdown restrictions is unlikely until the end of February at the earliest.

The reproduction R-value for the virus on Wednesday, Jan. 27, was said to be between 0.7 and 0.9, while figures from Public Health Wales showed that the country’s seven-day case rate stood at 204 cases per 100,000 people, down from 270 cases per 100,000 on Friday.

First Minister Mark Drakeford is expected to announce today, Friday, that primary school pupils can start returning to their desks after the February half-term if Covid-19 rates continue to fall. The First Minister said that there could be a “phased and flexible return to school after February 22 if the public health situation continues to improve.”

A statement said: “Rates of coronavirus across Wales have fallen below 200 cases per 100,000 people for the first time since early November and every day, thousands of more people receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine – the latest figures show almost 11 per cent of the population have been vaccinated.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Wales To Extend Coronavirus Lockdown For Three Weeks”. For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.