SHOPS REOPEN THIS MONDAY
HUGE BOOST FOR RETAILERS AS FIRST MINISTER SAYS NON-ESSENTIAL SHOPS CAN OPEN FOR FIRST TIME SINCE LOCKDOWN
ALL non-essential shops in Wales will be allowed to open their doors again from Monday, First Minister Mark Drakeford will announce today.
But people will be asked to “stay local” – within the five-mile rule of thumb – for at least another two weeks.
Shops will be able to reopen on Monday providing they can “take all reasonable measures to comply with the physical distancing duty in Welsh law”.
In the much-anticipated change, businesses in Wales will be expected to ensure two-metre social distancing is observed in their premises.
Scores of shoppers descended and queued on high streets in England last Monday after it was announced that stores could open to the public again there.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said yesterday he did not want to see large crowds gathering near shops here when they reopen.
“If non-essential retail opens here in Wales next week I don’t want to see a repeat of crowds bunched together outside shops in complete breach of what social distancing guidance is supposed to deliver,” he said.
“People need to take a step back and look at the seriousness of the position we’re in and to recognise that the release from lockdown comes with responsibilities for all of us in the way that we choose to behave.”
Welsh retailers were told to prepare for a possible reopening three weeks ago.
Meanwhile the First Minister is also expected to say today that the Welsh Government will review the requirement to stay local by Monday, July 6.
That means the five-mile “stay local” rule stays in place for now but could be lifted before the next three-week statutory review of the regulations in Wales due on Thursday, July 9, meaning thousands of families and loved ones may soon be reunited for the first time since March.
Plaid Cymru Shadow Minister for Health Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: “Many people will be glad to see yet another element of easing restrictions. However, we need to know not only which restrictions are being eased in the here and now but also which restrictions are expected to be lifted in the weeks and months ahead.
“Three weeks ago the First Minister asked non-essential shops to prepare to re-open safely. What we need to know now is which businesses and which sectors will be given guidance next to prepare for safe re-opening in three weeks’ time.
“I’m calling on the First Minister to relax restrictions as fast and as safely as possible and to consistently test and challenge the decisions they take as we move towards a new normality.
“However, the outbreak in my constituency today has shown that the threat of the coronavirus is still very, very real.”
Secretary of State for Wales Simon
Hart said Mr Drakeford needed to provide the tourism industry with “certainty and a plan” by giving a timetable when their businesses could resume.
He said the First Minister had “spooked” the industry by saying tourism would be likely to be restricted to “self-contained accommodation” such as cottages and holiday homes until next year.
Mr Hart said: “If that was serious, that would mean they would have to start laying off straightaway.
“What businesses are saying to us is they’ve had no income since last October, let alone since March, and they’re unlikely to have money any time soon.
“They want to hear from the Welsh Government exactly what its thoughts are around tourism and leisure and to give, if they can, an indication of what the sort of timescales are likely to be.”
He added: “I’m the first person to absolutely accept that the science is the science and you need to tread carefully with that. But it’s perfectly possible for them to give, as the UK Government gave, an indication of what the plan looks like.
“Everyone is grown up enough to know that it can change. But if businesses are going to be able to make any money in this year at all, they need to be able to start planning for that now.”
It comes as it was revealed yesterday that the number of people who have died after being diagnosed with Covid19 in Wales has increased by five.
Public Health Wales (PHW) said the total number of deaths reported to them since the outbreak began has now reached 1,471.
But as it can take two or three days for reports to reach the NHS trust not all the most recent deaths have happened in the past 24 hours.
The true death toll, which includes all deaths where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate, had already reached 2,317 on June 5 according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The latest ONS figures also show that deaths have fallen each week for the past six weeks, said Mr Gething.
Meanwhile, PHW said the number of lab-confirmed positive cases of coronavirus in Wales has increased by 48 to bring the total to 14,970.
Anglesey was the local authority with the highest amount of new cases yesterday with 11, while Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen, Flintshire, Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Neath Port Talbot, Powys and Swansea all had no new cases.
And while testing capacity stands at 12,300 each day in Wales just 2,271 were carried out on Wednesday.
The latest figures come following a press conference with Mr Gething, who gave an update on the situation in Wales.
Mr Gething reiterated that the NHS continues to cope with demand, with 1,750 acute hospital beds empty and around 52% – or 273 – of critical care beds available for use. There are 822 people with coronavirus in hospital in Wales, 5% lower than last week.
Currently there are 33 people being
treated in critical care for coronavirus, he added, while the majority of people in critical care now do not have the infection.
He also highlighted new figures from the ONS which show Wales has a lower excess death rate than both England and Scotland over the course of the pandemic so far.
“If Wales had the same excess death rate as England between March and early June we would have seen an extra 1,600 deaths in Wales,” said Mr Gething.
“To put it another way, if England had the same excess death rate as Wales there would have be almost 24,000 fewer deaths in England.”
The minister said the Welsh Government is looking at the underlying factors of this, including age, deprivation, population density and ethnicity.
A final report on this will be published over the summer.
When it came to care homes, Mr Gething confirmed that 1,212 residents and 1,206 staff in Wales have so far tested positive for Covid-19. He said more than 22,800 care home residents and 28,780 staff had been tested.
The minister added there had been about 30 Welsh care homes which “have not yet agreed and completed how testing will take place”.
“Understandably they have been reluctant to allow testing to take place because they are worried about the risk of coronavirus entering their homes, however small that risk may be,” he added.