No mass public gatherings in summer, warns First Minister
THERE will be no mass gatherings of people in Wales this summer.
Those hoping to attend large-scale gigs, festivals and sporting events will not be able to because of the coronavirus crisis.
The announcement was made by the First Minister Mark Drakeford in response to a question from the Echo at yesterday’s Welsh Government coronavirus daily breifing.
When asked if there were any restrictions which definitely would not be lifted this summer Mr Drakeford said: “I don’t see us being able to open mass gatherings. I don’t think we will be in a position to allow people to come together in very large numbers in conditions that promote the transmission of the virus.
“That is quite a long way further down [the road]. I would not anticipate that by that point that we would have reached that by the end of the school holiday period.”
It seems as though it could be 2021 until such events are allowed in Wales, as the First Minister also warned that planning further ahead was impossible until scientists saw if there was any winter spike in cases.
“I think we will just have to see what will happen through the autumn,” he said. “There are very sober warnings that you will have heard from the chief medical officer of England Professor Chris Whitty, which were echoed by our own chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton, that coronaviurus may come back again in the conditions of the autumn when it gets colder and damper, and we will have to make those decisions in the context of the time.”
Experts have long predicted that there may be a winter spike as the virus prefers cold and wet conditions.
It will also become harder for people to social distance effectively outdoors when the weather turns.
The comments mark a sharp contrast with the situation at the start of the pandemic, when there was controversy over a decision to let two Stereophonics gigs go ahead in Cardiff, and the Wales v Scotland match was only called off at the eleventh hour.