Drakeford: Two Covid rule reviews before Christmas

Wales' Covid rules could change before Christmas after the first minister announced he would review them week-by-week.

Mark Drakeford has held off imposing new restrictions for the time being.

But he said ministers will be monitoring the situation closely if they need to put in place "additional protections" in response to Omicron.

The change means there will be two weekly reviews in the run-up to Christmas.

The Welsh government urged individuals to take lateral flow tests before going shopping, going to Christmas parties or visiting others.

It also extended guidance on mask wearing to pubs and restaurants, when people are not eating.

Four more cases of Omicron were declared in Wales on Friday, bringing the total to 13, although it is thought there are more.

It comes as the Scottish government warned of a "tsunami" of Omicron cases.

Mr Drakeford attended a meeting of senior leaders across the UK on Friday, at which UK Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said they were presented with "very challenging new information".

He said the UK faced a "deeply concerning situation", with Omicron doubling every two to three days in England.

Earlier, Mr Drakeford told a press conference Wales "may be about a week behind what is happening in other parts of England and Scotland".

"And that may give us a little bit more time here in Wales to learn and to act".

Usually the government looks at the rules once every three weeks.

He said because of the speed things may change his cabinet would move from holding three-weekly reviews, to holding them once a week.

Meanwhile, the Welsh Parliament has announced it will close the Senedd building and hold its proceedings virtually in response to the new variant.

More than 1,200 cases of Omicron have been found in the UK, but the figure is thought to be an underestimate.

Experts in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) believe the variant will become dominant by mid-December.

On Friday, the UKHSA said two doses of a Covid vaccine were not enough to stop someone catching Covid.

However, a third booster dose significantly increased protection to around 75%.

The Welsh NHS is expanding its booster programme and aims to offer a jab to all adults by the end of January.

Wales' latest case rate from 5 December stands at 504 cases per 100,000 people over seven days, a slight dip from the day before.

People told BBC Wales of their concerns over Covid during the winter months.

Lee Coburn, 46, from the Rhondda, and who lost his father Terry in March to Covid.

'I'm a bit apprehensive, the reason being I do have an elderly mum who's high at risk," he said. "But also people need that time together with families, because it's been two years - so I think we could proceed with Christmas, but be cautious."

Mr Coburn said he was worried for what was coming after Christmas: "because if people are going to be partying, not being cautious then there's a massive wave going to hit us just after Christmas in January, and we'll be all in lockdown then until summertime like last year."

Nesta Darch, 63, Pontypridd, said she would "like to see perhaps more mandatory mask-wearing".

"You mention it to the staff in the shops and they say we have no legal requirement to make people wear masks", she said.

Her husband Don said his family take lateral flow tests "religiously".

"We do them - my children are all teachers, I've got my 85-year-old mam who's housebound," he said. "But the reliability of them, I'm not so sure. It's better than nothing, they do highlight some cases but I don't think you can 100% rely on lateral flow tests."

"This is a very difficult balance." So said the first minister in announcing no big changes to the Covid rules.

It's difficult because there's an information deficit around the Omicron variant which makes it hard to predict its impact on the NHS in Wales - an NHS already under severe strain.

But the first minister also said Wales "may be about a week behind England and Scotland", where rules have been tightened this week.

With Covid reviews here in Wales now taking place weekly, the message looks clear - preserving the status quo this week is a long way away from a guarantee of no change next week.

Mr Drakeford said there was still a lot that is not known about the variant, or how severe an illness it can cause.

But he feared the speed the variant transmits meant it could infect large numbers of people, leading to an increase in hospital admissions.

He said ministers would act early if data shows the variant is causing significant problems.

But the first minister said he could not give a "precise sense of what exactly would trigger action".

In the meantime, new guidance for visiting in care homes and hospitals is to be issued.

"We want to do all we can to support visiting where it is safe to do so but, if we see a new wave of cases, some strengthened measures to protect patients and residents may be needed", Mr Drakeford said.

The first minister refused to confirm or deny a report in political blog Guido Fawkes that claimed he called for a lockdown between Christmas and New Year.

He said he would not be drawn into "distorted accounts" of a meeting he had with the other UK nations this week.

The account of the meeting was a "gross violation of the rules under which those meetings are conducted", he said.

He suggested the motivation for whoever spoke to the blog "was simply to cause a distraction from the many, many difficulties that the UK government has experienced this week".

Welsh Conservative health spokesman Russell George said the Welsh government had taken the "right approach" to the Omicron variant by not announcing any major new restrictions on Friday.

"I don't think any of us want to see restrictions imposed on lives, particularly at the Christmas period," he said.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price backed Mr Drakeford's decision to hold weekly-reviews of the Covid rules.

He also supported Welsh government requests for more financial support from the UK government if tighter restrictions were to be introduced.