海角视频

First Minister Mark Drakeford has outlined how Wales will operate when its comes out of a 17-day Covid-19 firebreak next week with restaurants, cafes, pubs and gyms, able to reopen.

There will also be no travel restrictions within Wales, but travel outside of Wales, including across the border into England and vice versa, will not be allowed without a reasonable excuse.

The tourism sector in Wales will be able to re-open for Welsh residents, although non essential international travel, via the Welsh Government-owned Cardiff Airport, will not be allowed.

He also confirmed that the Welsh Government was聽 talking to local authorities across Wales on whether it made sense to give them聽 "autonomy and responsibility" to introduce more localised measures,聽 but was an "open question" at the moment.

The firebreak, aimed at suppressing the spread of the pandemic came into effect in Wales on October 23th and will run until November 9th.

It comes as the whole of England will enter a four week national lockdown from Thursday.

Mr Drakeford said further details on the impact on the hospitality sector were still under review, due to the risk of people living in England, where pubs will close, breaking the law by seeking to travel over the border. More details on the impact on the hospitality sector in Wales, including pubs, will be published later today.

The new measures in Wales from November 9th include:

• All premises, such as restaurants, cafes, pubs and gyms, closed during the firebreak, will be able to reopen.
• Following the announcement about the English lockdown, Mr Drakeford confirmed that ministers聽 are having ongoing discussions with the hospitality sector about the detailed rules for reopening. This includes about meeting in public indoor spaces.
• There will be no legal restrictions on travel within Wales for residents, but international travel should be for essential reasons only.
• The need to maintain two metre social distancing and wear face masks in enclosed public places, including on public transport and taxis, will continue.
• The requirement to work from home whenever possible will remain.
• People should only meet with their 鈥榖ubble鈥� in their own home and only two households will be able to form a 鈥榖ubble鈥�. If one person from either household develops symptoms, everyone should immediately self-isolate.
• Up to 15 people can take part in an organised indoors activity and up to 30 in an organised activity outdoors, providing all social distancing, hand hygiene and other covid safety measures are followed.
• All schools will reopen.
• Churches and places of worship will resume services.

• Local authority services will resume but based on local circumstances.

• Community centres will be available for small groups to meet safely indoors in the winter months.

The Welsh Government said that despite the firebreak intervention, its effectiveness, or not, in seeking to reduce the spread of the pandemic, will not be known immediately.

The firebreak has seen the closure of all hospitality and leisure venues, with only essential retailers allowed to trade.

Through the firebreak primary schools and early year secondary school classes have remained open. People have also been encouraged to work from home where they can. From November 9th all school classes will be open.

He said Wales had to consider the impact the English lockdown will have on the next steps taken in Wales.

Mr Drakeford: 鈥淲e need to do this because we share a long and porous border with England.

鈥淓very day 鈥� on a non-lockdown day 鈥� almost 150,000 people criss-cross this border to work, visit family, shop, do business and travel

鈥淎nd every day a huge volume of goods and services flow through Wales to England and vice versa.

鈥淭he English lockdown inevitably will have an impact on people who live in Wales, but work in England; on companies operating in both Wales and England and on businesses trading along the border.

鈥淲e are coming out of our firebreak just as England starts its month-long lockdown.

"It鈥檚 really important that as we open up, Wales doesn鈥檛 become an escape for people seeking to circumvent the new tighter restrictions imposed by the Prime Minister.

鈥淲e want to keep Wales safe and we want to keep the 海角视频 safe as well."

Mr Drakeford added: "Each of us has an important part to play in slowing the spread of coronavirus in Wales and saving lives 鈥� we cannot do this without your help.

"Everyone has made so many sacrifices this year already. To make sure we do not lose all this hard work, we need to carry on looking after each other and keeping ourselves safe.

"This is a virus which thrives on human contact. Social contact is important to all of us but to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe, we need to think carefully about all our meetings and contacts with other people and try and reduce them to reduce our risk of infection.

"Rather than us asking what we can or can鈥檛 do, we need to ask ourselves what should we be doing to keep our families safe.

Government rules and regulations are here to help. But the real strength we have is in the choices we make and the actions we take together."

Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: "We warmly welcome the First Minister鈥檚 confirmation that so-called non-essential shops can re-open fully from the 9th November.

"Retail has demonstrated that it can operate safely in the current environment, with Welsh retailers having invested tens of millions of pounds in physical distancing and hygiene measures. As such, shops remain a safe space for customers and staff and we look forward to welcoming back customers to our stores and playing our part in getting the Welsh economy moving again.

鈥淲ales鈥� shops and retail destinations will only survive with the ongoing patronage of the public, and any further attempt to close stores during the lead up to Christmas will mean many are unable to reopen. Any consideration of a future fire-break must weigh up the public health advice - which admits to the minimal impact on reducing transmission of coronavirus from store closures - against the catastrophic effect on those businesses."

Director of CBI Wales, Ian Price, said: "Firms under severe strain will be relieved. For those in the hard-hit hospitality sector, the next step is to get clear guidance on how businesses can re-open again as swiftly and easily as possible.

鈥淭he First Minister has placed great emphasis on personal compliance and changing individual behaviours as we continue to live with the pandemic. Having already invested significant sums in making workplaces safe for staff and customers, business stands ready to play its part in making that a success.鈥�

Jim Jones, chief executive of North Wales Tourism, said: "The devil is clearly in the detail, we await to see the guidelines that are being drawn up for hospitality businesses.

"However the Welsh Government also seriously needs to understand that our sector is dependent on at least 80% business coming from over the border.

"Now England will be going into a four week lockdown that will be eight weeks that our sector have struggled to trade.

"Many have had very little support which also hasn鈥檛 helped with the fiasco over the聽 ERF3 application process."

Ben Francis, FSB Wales Policy Chair, said: 鈥淲e welcome the early moves that the First Minister has made to provide detail on what a post-firebreak Wales will look like.

鈥淲e are pleased that there continues to be certainty that the firebreak will end on the 9聽November. We understand that the changing picture across the 海角视频 will impact upon what the First Minister feels able to do, but it is incredibly important that all businesses can reopen and do so confidently on the 9聽November, which includes the hospitality sector.

鈥淲e鈥檒l be working closely with the First Minister in the coming hours and days to ensure that all businesses in Wales have the certainty that they need to have every chance to survive the winter. Hospitality businesses and their customers will be looking for clear guidance as to what they can and cannot do in order to move forwards safely and sustainably.

鈥淢any businesses will feel reassured by the First Minister鈥檚 statement on the lack of travel restrictions in Wales. This will benefit high streets and towns across the country and help businesses claw back some of the opportunities that they have missed this year.

"That the First Minister also confirmed that people living in Wales can look to book holidays within the country will also provide reassurance to the tourism sector who have experienced such a difficult year already.

鈥淲e鈥檝e consistently called for a Tourism Hibernation Fund which would provide a mix of grant and loan funding to tourism and hospitality firms who have borne the brunt of the economic impact of coronavirus, and will continue to struggle to operate in a way that keeps them viable over the winter under coronavirus restrictions.

"So much ground has been lost by these businesses, and we urge Welsh Government to consider how these firms can be supported through the winter.鈥�