Updated: many of the new rules were brought forward and went into effect at midnight as December 19 became December 20. Original reporting is below.
The nation of Wales is about to undergo another strict nationwide lockdown, only this time what were seen as advisories are now being enacted as law.
As announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford today, December 16th, the following coronavirus-containing measures will be enacted in a matter of days:
- All non-essential retail, including close contact services and all leisure and fitness centres will close at the end of trading on Christmas Eve.
- All hospitality premises will close from 6pm on Christmas Day.
- Tighter restrictions on household mixing, staying-at-home, holiday accommodation and travel will apply from December 28, after the 5-day Christmas period.
Drakeford said, “We are seeing levels of coronavirus in some parts of the country that we haven’t experienced at any point before in this pandemic. This pandemic is putting our NHS under intense and sustained strain.
“There are more than 2,100 people with coronavirus symptoms in our hospitals – equivalent to 5 general hospitals fully occupied by people with coronavirus.
“This has been such a long and difficult year. We need to take this action to save lives and control the spread of this awful virus.
“The 4 UK governments met today to confirm the common arrangements for the 5-day Christmas period. Joint advice will be published later today.
“In Wales, the position will be that only 2 households should come together to form an exclusive Christmas bubble during that period.”
With leisure centres and gyms being included in those facilities closing in this lockdown, Swim Wales published a direct response on its website.
Chief Executive Officer Fergus Feeney said, “I wanted to address the announcement from the First Minister of Wales today regarding the closing of close contact services from the 24th December and the new regulations and restrictions in the form of a National Lockdown in Wales from 28th December.
“It is of course incredibly disappointing to see our industry shut down once again, however, we firmly support the notion that the safety of the Welsh population must come first.
As an aquatic community, we have been in this position before and we have managed the situation well. There is no reason why as a collective we cannot do this again. Swim Wales will continue to support you through this period with online training support and guidance, engagement sessions for all user groups, grant funding support, planning for your organisations future and of course direct liaison with Sport Wales and officials of Welsh Government.”
The lockdown affects the inaugural virtual Super Series, an event aimed at enabling competition despite coronavirus restrictions. You can refresh yourself on the competition here.
Swim Wales said, however, that “the decision has been made to close the Super Series after stage 3, therefore the Super Series 2020 will finish on December 20th. Winners will be selected using their fastest submitted times across the 3 stages of competition to date and not at the originally planned Super Final in January.”
The statement continued, We will monitor the 3 week review period and continue to work with Welsh Government, the Welsh Sports Association, Sport Wales and all stakeholders to ensure a swift and safe return to operation.”
The Welsh population stands at approximately 3,100,100 people with 103,098 coronavirus cases reported (3.3% of the population). You can see the latest Welsh coronavirus dashboard data here.