Further education colleges in Wales have said all face-to-face learning will be phased out from Friday.

"It is important that all steps to contain the virus and limit social contact are taken," said Dafydd Evans, who chairs the body representing sixth-form colleges in Wales, CollegesWales.

Schools in England will also close on Friday.

Education Minister Kirsty Williams has confirmed there will be no GCSE or A-level exams this summer in Wales.

She said all learners would be "awarded a fair grade to recognise their work, drawing on the range of information that is available".

"We will be working with the sector to announce further details shortly but wanted to give this early certainty," she added.

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A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “We are making provision in the UK-wide emergency bill, which will be introduced into the UK Parliament this week, to postpone all by-elections in Wales from April until they can be held safely for voters, election officials and candidates.”

All day services buildings in Bridgend county will close from Friday because of coronavirus.

The 100 staff will be mobilised across the borough to help those in need of ongoing care.

Individual funerals may not be possible if the number of coronavirus deaths is at the "top end of the reasonable worst case scenario", the Welsh Government has said.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it was "one of the most difficult things we might have to face".

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Eluned Morgan said in the Senedd the Welsh Government was taking the pressure on tourism businesses "very, very seriously".

Ms Morgan said the business rate relief measures the Welsh Government had taken would help some of the 11,000 firms in Wales.

Tory AM Darren Millar asked how many people from Wales were stranded overseas as a result of the coronavirus. Ms Morgan said they did not have the exact figures.

The advice from the Foreign Office was to encourage people to come home, she added.

Earlier, the chairman of a leading visitor attraction challenged the Welsh Government to make an immediate cash injection into the Welsh tourism industry to prevent job losses of around 100,000.

Ashford Price, from the National Showcaves Centre for Wales at Abercrave, near Swansea, warned the current crisis caused by the spread of coronavirus dwarfs all previous tourism disasters in the past 45 years.

Second-home owners and caravanners have been urged not to visit to north Wales seeking to self-isolate from coronavirus.

A GP said health services had been inundated by people with second homes in Gwynedd looking for medical care.

The Welsh Government has declined to comment.

Image source, Joel Felton

International relations and tourism minister Eluned Morgan told the Senedd on Wedneday that all 24 sites managed by the historic environment service CADW have been closed, while museums that fall under the responsibility of the Welsh Government have closed. The National Library in Aberystwyth has closed.

Image source, Cadw

Laura Doel, director of headteachers' union NAHT Cymru, said: “Details of how we can support vulnerable children and children of key workers are yet to be finalised, but school leaders and teachers will want to be part of the national response."

Thirteen new cases have tested positive for COVID-19 in Wales, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 149, according to Public Health Wales, external.

However, the true number of cases is likely to be higher.

The virus has now been detected in every council area, according to health bosses.

Kirsty Williams said it was unlikely that this summer's exams would go ahead. She says the authorities will be looking to grade GCSE (year 11) and A-level (year 13) students on the work already done through their existing assessments.

Ms Williams told journalists: "I have to be clear with parents today I am not anticipating that we will be able to get schools back to normal after the Easter break - they won't be back to normal for a considerable period of time."

"I do not foresee exams taking place this summer", she added.

An announcement on what will happen with exams is expected to be coordinated across the whole of the UK, Kirsty Williams said.

Ms Williams said the policy was not changing as a result in a change in public health advice, but was "about a pragmatic approach to how we best use our resources to support this country".

On who the offering in schools would assist, Kirsty Williams said: "Those people who are going out into people's homes, those people who are providing a food supply in our supermarkets...it goes beyond the NHS."

Teachers are not childminders, but will play a "crucial role" at this time, Kirsty Williams said.

They could be involved in setting work for children while they are not in school, she added.

Earlier, Ms Williams said from next week, schools would have a "new purpose".

"They will help support those most in need, including people involved in the immediate response to the coronavirus outbreak," she added.

"I am working with my colleagues in the cabinet, with government officials and our partners in local government to develop and finalise these plans."

Education Minister Kirsty Williams is giving a press conference to explain the decision to close all schools in Wales by Friday.