Here are the morning headlines for Wednesday, January 19, as Wales' First Minister said he has "nothing to apologise" for in reply to an attack from the Conservatives.
Mark Drakeford rejected calls for him to say sorry to pubs and restaurants for the impact of the level two restrictions that were introduced on Boxing Day.
During the weekly First Minister’s Questions, Tory leader Andrew RT Davies criticised the Welsh Government for keeping tighter restrictions in place than were in force in England to deal with the Omicron wave. Did the strict rules make any difference? Read more here,
Mr Davies said: “A report last week showed that pubs in Wales lost on average £16,000 due to the government restrictions. This was because the rules that closed some establishments and made other hospitality businesses unviable.
“Will you apologise for the impact of those restrictions on the businesses that proved to be unviable because of those restrictions?
“And will you as a gesture of goodwill increase the level of funding available to businesses so they can continue going forward creating employment opportunities and creating dynamic businesses the length and breadth of Wales?”
In response the First Minister said he had “absolutely nothing to apologise for.”
He said: "The Conservative Party in Wales has a great deal to apologise for, in the way that it has time after time, sought to deny people in Wales and businesses as well the protections that are needed from a global pandemic.
“We put in measures that were designed to make sure that lives were saved in Wales, and that businesses could go on trading and there’s absolutely nothing to apologise for in doing that, because those measures were necessary, and those measures have been effective.”
It comes as a new poll showed that almost two thirds of Welsh people prefer their country's approach over England’s. Read the full results here.
PM set to announce end of Plan B in England
Boris Johnson is expected to announce an easing of England's coronavirus restrictions on January 26 as he battles to save his premiership.
The Prime Minister and his Cabinet will examine the latest Covid-19 data on Wednesday morning before making a statement in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.
England's Plan B measures - which include guidance to work from home, the use of the Covid pass and mandatory mask wearing in shops and on public transport - are set to expire on January 26.
First Minister Mark Drakeford announced last week that if cases continue to fall, Wales will return to alert level zero by January 28. The full timetable is here.
In England, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs on Tuesday that he was "cautiously optimistic that we will be able to substantially reduce restrictions next week".
No final decisions have yet been made, although any attempt to extend the restrictions beyond the cut-off date would trigger a fresh confrontation with Tory MPs, something the Prime Minister would wish to avoid as his position has already been weakened due to the row over Downing Street parties.
Asked whether restrictions would be lifted during a visit to a hospital on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said: "We've got to be careful about Covid. We've got to continue to remember that it's a threat."
The Plan B measures were introduced to combat the wave of cases driven by the Omicron variant, with the aim of buying time to offer more booster jabs.
Reports have suggested the Government may choose to lift the most economically significant measures - working from home and the Covid pass - while keeping the requirement to wear masks.
On Tuesday, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the Omicron variant will be eased from Monday.
It means nightclub closures and the requirement for table service in hospitality will come to an end, while attendance limits on indoor events and the guidance asking people to stick to a three-household limit on indoor gatherings will be lifted.
However, some baseline coronavirus measures which were in place before the Omicron wave will remain, including wearing face coverings in public indoor settings and on public transport, as well as working from home whenever it is possible.
Pressure increases on Boris Johnson over partygate scandal
As well as the Plan B announcement, Boris Johnson is set to face an increasingly angry chorus of his own MPs amid reports the 54 letters which would launch a no confidence vote in the PM could be received on Wednesday.
Reports on Tuesday night suggested MPs furious at the Prime Minister's handling of the partygate scandal engulfing Westminster had been angered further by Mr Johnson's insistence that nobody had told him a party at Downing Street would break rules he himself had set.
And that especially those in the 2019 intake, many of whom have slim majorities after votes were "lent" to them during the last election, were preparing to submit their letters to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench MPs, Sir Graham Brady.
Bury South MP Christian Wakeford - who has a majority of just 402 - became the seventh Conservative MP to publicly call for Mr Johnson to go on Tuesday, according to Yahoo News.
But a number of newspapers reported that the plot to oust Mr Johnson was far wider, as the PM will attempt to reassure his party when he appears in the Commons for Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
MPs from the former so-called Red Wall were said to have met on Tuesday to discuss Mr Johnson's future in a gathering nicknamed the "pork pie plot" or the "pork pie putsch", and one told The Daily Telegraph the 15% of letters needed to trigger a challenge could be reached on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson, who was reported to have spent Tuesday evening in his Commons office meeting with potential rebels, apologised multiple times in a major broadcast interview for "misjudgments that were made".
But he stuck to his defence that he had thought a "bring your own booze" party held in the No 10 garden on May 20, 2020 had been a work event and he had not been warned about it in advance.
Mr Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings threw that into doubt on Monday as he said he would "swear under oath" Mr Johnson was told about the bash.
But asked if he had lied to Parliament over the parties as he visited a north London hospital, the PM told broadcasters: "No. I want to begin by repeating my apologies to everybody for the misjudgments that I've made, that we may have made in No 10 and beyond, whether in Downing Street or throughout the pandemic.
"Nobody told me that what we were doing was against the rules, that the event in question was something that... was not a work event, and as I said in the House of Commons when I went out into that garden I thought that I was attending a work event."
Mr Johnson said he "can't imagine why on Earth it would have gone ahead, or why it would've been allowed to go ahead" if he had been told it was anything but a "work event".
"I do humbly apologise to people for misjudgments that were made but that is the very, very best of my recollection about this event," he said.
Mr Johnson confirmed he had given evidence to an inquiry being carried out into Whitehall parties during lockdown restrictions by senior official Sue Gray.
And the PA news agency understands Mr Cummings has also agreed to speak to the civil servant who has been described as "formidable".
Chancellor Rishi Sunak refused to give the Prime Minister his unequivocal backing on Tuesday, as Mr Johnson made his first public appearance after reducing his contacts last week, when No 10 said a family member had tested positive for Covid-19.
But Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries came out to bat for the PM, telling The Times those manoeuvring against him were "being disloyal to the Prime Minister, the party, their constituents and the wider country".
Mr Johnson insisted he only saw the "bring your own booze" invite his principal private secretary Martin Reynolds sent to more than 100 staff "the other day... when it emerged".
He declined to say whether he would resign if it was proved he did intentionally mislead Parliament, instead pleading for patience ahead of Ms Gray delivering the verdict of her partygate inquiry, which is not expected until the end of this week at the earliest.
He appeared distressed as he faced questions about two events in No 10 last April on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, during which the Queen sat alone as she mourned.
The Prime Minister audibly breathed heavily behind his mask as he said: "I deeply and bitterly regret that that happened.
"I can only renew my apologies both to Her Majesty and to the country for misjudgments that were made, and for which I take full responsibility."
Covid passes will remain in Wales 'for weeks'
Covid passes will still need to be used in Wales for at least three weeks, and potentially into March.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has said that he plans to further reduce Covid restrictions from this coming Friday, if rates continue to drop.
That will mean from this Friday, January 21, all outdoor activities will move to alert level zero and crowds will be able to return to outdoor sporting events. Outdoor hospitality would be able to operate without additional reasonable measures but the Covid Pass will be required for entry to larger outdoor events. You can read the plan in full here.
Economy minister Vaughan Gething gave a press conference on Tuesday, January 18, where he was asked how long they will remain in place.
"We've been clear that in reopening, Covid passes will return to those sectors they were in before the alert level two protections were introduced. We have to review these matters every three weeks, so we'll consider that again in the middle of February. If they're still kept in place we'll have to consider them again in another three weeks," he said.
"Within that period of time I can't honestly forecast where we'll get to with case rates with the protections we need to have in place to make sure people are protected from the direct harm of Covid but also people in public services are protected from the harm Covid can cause as well.
"As soon as we're able to no longer have those in place we'll remove them." More details here.
Biden’s free Covid tests website now taking orders
The Biden administration’s website for Americans to order free at-home Covid-19 tests has gone live and is taking orders a day before it was set to launch.
The website, COVIDtests.gov, was originally scheduled to go into service on Wednesday. What the Welsh Government says about paying for later flow tests.
The site states, "every home in the US is eligible to order 4 free at-home Covid-19 tests. The tests are completely free. Orders will usually ship in 7-12 days.
"Order your tests now so you have them when you need them."
Each household can order up to four rapid test kits, which the US Postal Service is shipping for free.
The free tests are shipping nearly a month after President Joe Biden announced that his administration would purchase 500 million kits to send to Americans. That was just before Christmas, when coronavirus cases began surging due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. At the time, administration officials said the tests would not arrive at homes until January.
Hong Kong to cull 2,000 animals after hamsters get Covid-19
Hong Kong authorities are to cull 2,000 small animals including hamsters after several of the rodents tested positive for coronavirus at a pet store where an infected employee was working.
The city will also stop the sale of hamsters and the import of small mammals, according to officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
The move came after the pet shop employee tested positive for the Delta variant earlier this week. Several hamsters imported from the Netherlands at the same store tested positive as well.
"If you own a hamster, you should keep your hamsters at home, do not take them out," said department director Leung Siu-fai at a news conference.
"All pet owners should observe good personal hygiene, and after you have been in contact with animals and their food, you should wash your hands.
"Do not kiss your pets."
Even though authorities acknowledged there is "no evidence" that pets can transmit the coronavirus to humans, as a precautionary measure, customers who had purchased hamsters from the affected store after January 7 will be traced and subject to mandatory quarantine.
They must also hand over their hamsters to authorities to be put down.
Authorities said all pet stores selling hamsters in Hong Kong must cease operations and around 2,000 small mammals, including hamsters and chinchillas, will be culled in a humane manner.
Hong Kong's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was "shocked and concerned" by the decision to kill the animals, and urged the government not to "take any drastic action before reviewing its approach".
Customers who bought hamsters in Hong Kong from December 22 will also be subject to mandatory testing and are urged not to go into the community until their tests have returned negative.
If their hamsters test positive, they will be subject to quarantine.
For now, authorities said they would not rule out transmission between human and animals.
Separately, Hong Kong police arrested two former flight attendants for allegedly leaving their homes when they should have been in isolation for possible coronavirus infections, which were later confirmed.
The two arrived from the US on December 24 and 25. While in medical surveillance, they had "conducted unnecessary activities", according to a government statement.
While the statement did not name their employer, the arrests came after flagship carrier Cathay Pacific said it had fired two crew members for breaching coronavirus protocols. Both later tested positive for the Omicron variant.
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