Welsh Government confirms coronavirus lockdown measures will continue for further week

The Minister for Housing and Local Government Julie James has announced that coronavirus lockdown measures will continue in Wales.

The Minister said: “It’s almost two and a half weeks since we asked people to stay at home to work from home whenever they can, and stop making unnecessary journeys. These measures will stay in place next week.

“We put these unprecedented measures in place to slow the spread of the virus, to protect our NHS and to save lives.

“These are extraordinary times asking people to completely change the way they live, work and socialise is not something we do lightly.

“We’ve taken these matters because by working together we can slow the spread of this virus and protect people who are most at risk.

“There are signs that the measures are having an impact, but we also have to brace ourselves for more people falling sick and sadly for more people dying as a result of Coronavirus.”

“We’ll be calling on everyone in Wales to follow the stay at home rules. Our message is very simple, stay home and save lives.

“Our actions and decisions over the Easter bank holiday weekend and in the coming weeks and months will shape Wales for years to come. Over the last few weekends, people have been very good complying with the regulations. But there have been some issues in each of the four parts of Wales.”

The Minister explained a formal announcement will come from the First Minister later today, and had previously said a COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms meeting, often called the ‘COBRA’ meetings) would take place to decide such a move.

“I’m telling you today that we are extending it, but the formal announcements for that will be made by the First Minister, later in Plenary I suspect and then tomorrow in the press conferences.”

The early announcement is to ensure people are not ‘making plans’ for the Easter weekend.

You can view the full brief from today, along with the Q&A below:

🎥 Yn fyw nawr | 🎥 Live now: https://t.co/GyMqZoCljI

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) April 8, 2020