Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford announces latest lockdown review and route out of restrictions

Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford will shortly announce the latest lockdown review and the route out of restrictions.

Mark Drakeford will today, Wednesday, July 14, reveal whether Wales will follow England and Scotland and lift nearly all remaining lockdown restrictions on people and businesses this summer.

Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon have both already said restrictions will be eased with England easing nearly all curbs from Monday, July 19, with Scotland having a more limited route out of restrictions from Monday, July 13, followed by a wider easing of nearly all legal Covid rules three weeks later on Monday, August 9.

Wales has already signalled that it will follow a different route to England by making face masks mandatory on public transport and healthcare settings – although ministers have not yet decided if they will remain legally required in shops.

Wales’ cabinet has met a number of times in the build-up to today’s announcement including a planned meeting on Wednesday morning to finalise their decision.

The easing of restrictions had already been delayed over fears about the Delta variant. Mr Drakeford will announce the results of the cabinet’s review to the Senedd at 3 pm followed by a press conference at 5.15 pm both UK time.

The First Minister told Senedd members on Tuesday, July 13, that he hoped he would be able to announce some easing but warned: “What it will not be will be a wholesale abandonment of the collective actions that we have taken during the pandemic and that continue to keep Wales safe in the face of the third wave of coronavirus, which is already testing our health service, and the thought that that is a promising context in which to move rapidly away from the protections that are still there to keep us safe—I’m not persuaded that this is the moment for such an approach”

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