First Minister reiterates advice to minimise travel in and out of English areas hit by Delta variant

Advice earlier this week to minimise travel in and out of areas of England hit by the Delta variant of Covid has been reiterated today by Wales’ First Minister.

The Chester and Cheshire West local authority area which borders north Wales is one of six new places that the UK Government has given additional support to help deal with a rise in Covid-19 cases.

Around 97% of new cases in North Wales are now of the Delta variant.

Cheshire West and Chester has seen its case rate hit 110 per 100,000 of the population, and The Countess of Chester hospital has seen 4 admissions in the seven days up to June 13th.

Locally we have been told that some hospitality venues have seen bookings drop by a third over the last week compared to the previous week, with suppliers also reporting similar drop in trade.

In Chester, a range of hospitality businesses have closed their doors over the last week as staff members test positive for coronavirus and isolation processes begin.

We asked First Minister Mark Drakeford how closely issues in border areas are being observed, and if there would be any new direct revenue support to hospitality to reflect the tough trading position.

He replied: “I think we’ve said over a number of weeks that when you have clusters of a new variant, very close to a very porous border, then the chances of just turning it back at the border are pretty slender.

“I’m not surprised at all to hear that people become more cautious as they see numbers going up.

“We will work with the sector, my colleague Economy Minister Vaughan Gething announced £2.5 million pounds extra on Monday of this week to help those businesses affected by the delay that we’ve had to introduce in the reopening of some indoor hospitality, and we are working on a further package.

“We discussed the package yesterday at the Social Partnership Council.

“The details are still being worked through with the different sectors , so there will be more help for businesses here in Wales who find themselves in this situation.”

With cases rising across the border, Mr Drakeford was asked again about people being urged not to travel to help stop transmission.

The First Minister said: “I do reinforce the advice that has already been given to those populations by the government in England.

“That advice is if you’re living in an English hotspot, the advice for some weeks now has been to minimise travel, not to travel in or out of those areas.

“I think that is good advice that has been given to those populations and I’m very happy to reinforce it and repeated from a Welsh perspective.”

You can view the full briefing on the below video link:

Yn fyw nawr gyda'r Prif Weinidog Mark Drakeford | Live now with First Minister Mark Drakeford https://t.co/ZsJnjgvHjD

— Welsh Government #KeepWalesSafe (@WelshGovernment) June 18, 2021