The First Minister has come as close as he ever has to ruling out future lockdowns in Wales.
Back in the summer of 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out future lockdowns to combat increases in the virus. Mark Drakeford by contrast has refused to take anything off the table when it comes to tackling the deadly disease. However in a press conference where he announced an end to the laws requiring people to self isolate, the First Minister gave the clearest sign yet that he believes lockdowns will not be required in the future.
Responding to questions from the media Mr Drakeford said: "I think it is unlikely that we will need to return to the level of protections that we have seen in previous winters, largely because as I've said, we now have the protection, that vaccination offers. The JCVI was meeting again yesterday to plan ahead for the way in which vaccination will continue to be part of our defence against the virus, there are new treatments becoming available, antivirals and so on that will change the way in which we can deal with this virus.
Read more: Full updates of the Mark Drakeford press conference
"Unless something entirely unexpected happens, like a new variant that escapes the vaccine, then I don't see us returning to the sorts of restrictions that we've had to live with over the last two winters. Does that mean that in Wales, we rule something out that we say we will never do something? Well, no, of course not. No sensible person dealing with something as unpredictable as coronavirus has turned out to be should ever say to that we've ruled something out for ever.
"Do we expect to have to do the things that you've suggested? The answer to that is no. But there have been as we've seen with the last week alone, the experience of coronavirus does not always proceed in the way that has been predicted."
At the same press conference the First Minister also said that it was possible that free lateral flow tests could end in June. "We intend with the budget to be got available to us currently to continue them into June," he said. "At that point, I hope we will have final clarity from the UK Government of the budgets that may come to Wales to deal with the coronavirus impact in the next financial year beginning in only a week's time, we still don't have that clarity." To get the latest updates on Welsh politics in our daily Wales Matters email, sign up here.
