Wales to ease Covid lockdown restrictions from Saturday

Wales to ease Covid lockdown restrictions from Saturday
March 12, 2021, 12:09 pm

A Covid-19 warning sign in Cardiff. From Saturday, four people from two households will be able to meet outdoors.

First minister announces ‘stay local’ replacing ‘stay home’ rule among other changes

Some semblance of normal life will begin again in Wales from Saturday, after the country’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, announced a change from the current “stay home” restrictions to more lenient “stay local” requirements.

From Saturday, four people from two households will be able to meet outdoors to socialise, including in gardens. Outdoor sports facilities, including basketball courts, tennis courts and golf courses, can reopen; and indoor care home visits will restart for single designated visitors. The relaxation of rules will allow people from rural areas to travel greater distances than those who live in urban towns and cities.

Hairdressers and barbers can reopen for appointments from Monday, the same day that all primary school pupils and those in qualification years can return to schools.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Friday morning, Drakeford said self-contained holiday accommodation would reopen from Easter, but people would not be able to visit from England. He said he hoped tourism would be open to people outside Wales by the summer if the coronavirus situation continued to improve.

“At Easter time, Welsh people will be able to travel for holidays over Easter within Wales, and to self-contained accommodation,” Drakeford said.

“The rules in England will not permit that. The prime minister’s roadmap says that for the weeks after 29 March, people should minimise travel, there are to be no holidays, and people won’t be allowed to stay away from home overnight.”

He conceded that in many Welsh homes, people would need to go through the house to access the back garden but “the idea is you walk straight through, out the back door into the garden”.

“That will be a big step forward here in Wales. People haven’t been able to do that now for weeks and weeks,” he said.

source: Damien Gayle

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