The six ways wales is planning for eventual end of lockdown

SIX different measures are being put in place in Wales to plan for the eventual end of the lockdown, the First Minister has confirmed.

No indication has yet been given of when this could be, as Wales enters its second three-week period of restrictions.

These are the six points the First Minister said would be considered in making that decision:

■■ 1. Guidance on when it’s safe to lift restrictions

“We need to have in place common and objective measures which will tell us when it’s safe to begin to lift the lockdown measures. We will take advice from chief medical officers,” said the First Minister.

“We need to know what figures need to be falling and how long they need to be falling for, and we need to do that in a common way across the United Kingdom and we need to do it early, I think, in the three-week period.”

■■2. Surveillance measures “Whenever we begin to lift the lockdown, we are likely to see coronavirus outbreaks in different parts of the UK,” added Mr Drakeford.

“And that’s why we need to use these three weeks to put public health surveillance measures in place, so if there are local outbreaks of the virus we can identify them quickly and respond to them effectively.

“In Wales, we have retained a national public health service with a strong local presence. It’s a great source of strength and will be even more so as we come out of lockdown and put those surveillance measures in place.”

■■3. Further strengthen the NHS Earlier in the press conference, Mr Drakeford said that critical care bed numbers had doubled thanks to the efforts of NHS staff.

He added that there are 7,000 more beds available to the Welsh NHS as a whole due to the introduction of field hospitals, among other unprecedented measures.

“However, that process is not over,” he said.

“We need to use these three weeks to continue to strengthen the NHS for what lies ahead.”

■■4. Tests after restrictions are lifted

“As we come to lift the restrictions, we need to know what actions to take first,” he said.

“That’s why, here in Wales, we have started to develop a series of tests which will help us to make those decisions.

“Any easing of restrictions will need to pass tests such as ‘does that action continue to protect public health?, ‘can it be policed?’, ‘is it capable of being rapidly reversed if that were to be necessary?’

“I want to discuss those tests with other governments in the UK as I hope we move together to plan for our future.”

■■5. Learn from international experience

The First Minister said: “There are already countries in Europe and beyond where restrictions are being lifted.

“We need to use the time we have to stay in close touch with those other countries so that we can learn from them what is working and where it may not be working.

“Public Health Wales has long been an active participant in global public health networks and relationships. We will use that advantage over the next three weeks to make sure that here in Wales our plan for the future is wellinformed by what is happening elsewhere.”

■■6. Draw in experience from elsewhere

“Finally, we want to draw in experience and expertise from beyond government itself,” he said.

“We are establishing a group of people from inside Wales and beyond to challenge our thinking, to contribute new ideas and to help us plan for recovery, for the future of our health and wellbeing and the future of our economy.”