Wales' post-firebreak measures will continue to harm businesses says a Welsh Government impact assessment.
The report said the severe firebreak restrictions for households and widespread closures in the economy struck a balance between protecting public health and the social and economic harms caused by lockdown.
It added that tighter restrictions during this short period were intended to reduce the need for further restrictions, although this "could not be, and cannot be ruled out".
They said that the new measures would have a positive economic impact in comparison to the firebreak.
But they admitted businesses and workers could still suffer due to the measures - which include strict rules on how businesses in sectors like hospitality operate.
The report said: "All businesses, as regulated settings, will be subject to a range of requirements in legislation to enable them to operate in a Covid-safe way.
"These measures allow businesses to be open and to serve groups of four however it is acknowledged that they come with one-off and ongoing additional costs.
"They also constrain businesses’ ability to operate as they normally would, reducing their output and profitability and changing the demand for staff.
"In a few cases this has provided new opportunities but the much more common experience, particularly in public facing sectors like non-essential retail, tourism, hospitality and entertainment, has been negative.
"In the sectors we expect to be significantly impacted we will see a disproportionate impact of certain groups:Â younger workers (especially in hospitality), women (especially in close contact services and non-essential retail) and BAME people (especially in parts of the hospitality sector and in transport services including taxis.)
"In the earlier stages of the pandemic, disabled people were more likely to be furloughed and this pattern may be repeated."
To mitigate the impact the Welsh Government has allocated hundreds of millions of pounds through the Economic Resilience Fund(ERF).
But many businesses have missed out and Economy minister Ken Skates has announced a new tranche of funding under stage 4 of the ERF.
