Mark Drakford has outlined his plan for dealing with Covid over the long term as he announced the end of all lockdown restrictions in Wales. It means masks no longer need to be worn in healthcare settings.
After more than two years of living with coronavirus regulations, these final restrictions will expire on Monday, May 30, when the requirement to wear a face covering in health and care settings ends. But Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government will continue to recommend people take simple steps to protect their health.
The First Minister also said that there would continue to be restrictions on visits to healthcare settings as clinical managers had to assess the risk in every situation and protect their patients.
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Mr Drakeford described the ending of all restrictions as a "milestone" and that there would be no more three-week reviews and no more Covid press conferences.
He said: "We have reached another milestone moment in our response to the pandemic in Wales. Unfortunately, the end of the coronavirus regulations doesn’t mean the pandemic is over. But it does mean we can take another big step towards living safely with the virus."
He said Wales remained ready to scale up testing and vaccination arrangements once again if the public health situation changes. He said in in the past week, the four UK chief medical officers have warned about the risk from new Omicron variants – BA.4 and BA.5 - but that at the moment there remained very few cases of these variants in Wales.
He said cases of Covid had been declining in all four nations of the UK. "The latest results suggest one in every 55 people had Covid-19 in Wales", he said. "Cases are very slightly higher here than in England and Northern Ireland but lower than in Scotland."
The Welsh Government has set out the following steps that they are advising people to follow to keep themselves and families safe (these are not legal requirements):
- Get vaccinated
- practice good hand hygiene
- test and self-isolate when you have symptoms
- meet others outdoors
- when indoors, increase ventilation and let fresh air in
First Minister Mark Drakeford added: "I want to thank everyone for all you have done to protect yourselves and your loved ones. You have followed the rules and you have kept Wales safe. This three-week review of the coronavirus regulations is a significant milestone – we are completing our careful and gradual transition away from legal protections and away from the emergency response to the pandemic.”
He added: “We remain alert to the threat of new and emerging variants, and we will be ready to respond if we see a rapid spread of the virus, causing widespread harm. Continuing to take simple steps, including staying up to date with vaccinations; self-isolating if you have Covid-19 symptoms and maintaining good hand hygiene, will be important in helping us all to enjoy a safer and brighter future together.”
From Monday, May 30, the legal requirement to wear a face covering in health and care settings will end. This follows the outcome of the three-weekly review of coronavirus regulations and completes a gradual, phased easing of legal restrictions since January.
The number of Covid-19 related patients has also fallen to less than 700 and is at its lowest level since 28 December 2021, although the Welsh Government say NHS remains under pressure from a combination of emergency and pandemic pressures with a significant number of staff absences.
