Wales places travel ban on people from high-risk areas
Dramatic escalation of restrictions comes as Northern Ireland announces four-week ‘circuit break’ lockdown
The Welsh government is preparing to ban people who live in virus hotspots across the rest of the UK from travelling to the country.
In a dramatic escalation of restrictions, first minister Mark Drakeford said he was taking the urgent action after Boris Johnson failed to reply to two letters requesting No 10 introduce the measure across the UK to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Under regulations now being prepared by the Welsh government, people living in areas with high levels of
the virus in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be able to travel to the country from 6pm tomorrow. In a statement issued yesterday, Mr Drakeford said: “Evidence from public health professionals suggests coronavirus is moving from east to west across the UK and across Wales. As a general rule, it is concentrating in urban areas and then spreading to more sparsely populated areas as a result of people travelling.”
He continued: “Much of Wales is now subject to local restriction measures because levels of the virus have risen and people in those areas are not able to travel beyond their country boundary without a reasonable excuse. This is designed to prevent the spread of infection within Wales and to other areas of the UK.
“We are preparing to take this action to prevent people who live in areas where there are higher Covid infection rates across the UK from travelling to Wales and bringing the virus with them”.
The Northern Ireland Assembly also announced it would impose its own partial lockdown, including the closure of all pubs and restaurants for four weeks and the closure of schools for a two-week period to combat rising levels of Covid-19.
Starting tomorrow, first minister Arlene Foster announced indoor sport, close-contact services such as hairdressing and public events involving more than 15 people will also be banned. Shops will remain open, and takeaways and food deliveries will be permitted until 11pm, but supermarkets and off-licences will be banned from selling alcohol after 8pm, a special sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly were told.
Schools will be closed for two weeks with an extension of the October half-term to 2 November. A 25person limit will be placed on funerals and weddings, but wedding receptions are prohibited.
Ms Foster told the assembly that the fast escalating numbers of cases was a matter of “grave concern”.
“We fully appreciate that this will be difficult and worrying news for a lot of people,” she said. “The executive has taken this decision because it is necessary and we discussed the impacts in great detail. We do not take this step lightly.”
Ms Foster said that the time-limited restrictions were designed to reduce Covid transmission rates and to create “a point where everyone each and every one of us can take stock and go back to the social distancing measures which are vitally important”.
Downing Street has not yet responded to the measures, but the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she fully supported Mr Drakeford. “These are public health decisions, and nothing to do with our constitutional or political debates,” she said.
Ms Sturgeon hinted at imposing similar measures, insisting the Scottish government will “also take whatever action we consider necessary to control Covid”.
It comes after the Welsh first minister said he was “very actively talking about and preparing for” a circuitbreaker lockdown, adding he does not think it would be sensible for ministers to dismiss the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) who recommended the drastic action three weeks’ ago.
“We want to act now in order to prevent the worst from happening, to give us a better chance of getting through the rest of the autumn and the winter, and if a circuit-breaker is the right way to do it then that is what we will do,” he said.
So far, the UK government has resisted pressure to impose similar measures across England and remains committed to a regional approach based on the three-tier system unveiled on Monday.
Pressed on the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions by Sir Keir Starmer, who announced Labour’s support for a circuit-breaker lockdown on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said he could not rule out the option but insisted he
wanted to avoid the “disaster” and “misery” of a second national lockdown.