Summary

  • First Minister Mark Drakeford says the lockdown will stay in place next week, saying: "The efforts we are making are not yet over"

  • 33 more people with coronavirus have been confirmed as dying in Wales, taking the total to 245

  • There are 4,073 confirmed cases, but the true figure will be much higher as not everyone has been tested

  • The prime minister remains in intensive care "where his condition is improving", Chancellor Rishi Sunak says.

  • Wales' leading rugby players will take a 25% pay cut as the sport deals with the financial impact of coronavirus

  • Police officers should not be used as 'factory inspectors' to enforce social distancing rules, the North Wales police and crime commissioner has said

  1. Ospreys highlight 'fatal risk' of enjoying sunshinepublished at 12:03 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Don't take a fatal risk to enjoy the sunshine, Ospreys players say in a video posted to Twitter.

    People across the UK appear to be obeying social distancing rules despite the tempting weather, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has said.

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  2. Archbishop conducting services over Facebookpublished at 11:55 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    The Archbishop of Wales John Davies will be leading his final service of the day on Facebook.

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  3. Police 'should not be used as factory inspectors'published at 11:45 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Police officers should not be used as "factory inspectors" to enforce social distancing rules, the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has said.

    Regulations that came into law on Tuesday allow police and councils to fine firms for not doing all they can to keep workers two metres apart.

    But Mr Jones said all four Welsh chief constables have objected to doing so, saying police had "important work of their own to do" during the coronavirus crisis.

    Under the law, police and councils have powers to issue fixed penalty notices ranging from £60 for a first offence, to £120 for a second and subsequent offence.

    The Welsh Government has been asked for comment.

    Police officersImage source, Getty Images
  4. Viewpoint closed after visitors flout lockdownpublished at 11:38 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    A viewpoint in Flintshire has been closed after people flouted Covid-19 regulations to visit it.

    North Wales Police said the council had closed the area in Gwaenysgor as visiting the viewpoint was non-essential.

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  5. Bryant urges caution on PM 'fight' talkpublished at 11:31 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Labour MP Chris Bryant has urged politicians to think about the language they use in messages of support sent to the prime minister.

    Boris Johnson has spent two nights in intensive care due to coronavirus.

    Mr Bryant, who had successful surgery for skin cancer in 2019, says it is inappropriate to talk about "fighting" against illness.

    "Please can all politicians stop talking about the PM having a lot of fight in him," the Rhondda MP tweeted.

    "I wish him well. But as one who has had cancer I can tell you this suggestion that disease respects those with 'fight' is deeply offensive.

    "It implies that those who lose are somehow to blame."

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  6. 'Visit Pembrokeshire - later'published at 11:22 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    As we head towards the Easter weekend, Pembrokeshire County Council is reminding potential visitors to stay away.

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  7. Virtual Senedd meets againpublished at 11:02 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Welsh Assembly members will meet later for the second "virtual Senedd" session.

    The institution says it has been approached by parliaments around the world for advice on meeting remotely during the coronavirus outbreak.

    Last week's video conference was the first of its kind in the UK.

    More AMs will take part this time, with 28 of the 60 members due to join the meeting.

    Members will question the first minister Mark Drakeford in a session starting at 13:30 BST.

    You can watch proceedings from 13:45 BST on BBC Two Wales or live online.

    Virtual session of the Welsh Assembly
  8. Harlech loses steepest street crownpublished at 10:56 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    In other news, Harlech in Gwynedd has lost its status as the town with the steepest street in the world – to the street in New Zealand it took the title from last year.

    Guinness World Records says Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, has been reinstated as the steepest on the planet following a “comparative survey of three-dimensional shapes”.

    Baldwin Street representatives appealed after their record was taken by Harlech’s Ffordd Pen Lech in July 2019.

    “We’re very grateful to the Baldwin Street appeals team, led by surveyor Toby Stoff, for making us aware of a rare gap in our stipulations and we’re pleased to see the title return to New Zealand,” said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief at Guinness World Records.

    “We’re also very grateful to the Ffordd Pen Llech team for their application and good humour throughout this process.”

    Ffordd Pen Lech
    Image caption,

    Ffordd Pen Lech in Harlech has lost its accolade as the world's steepest street

  9. Are your dreams more lucid?published at 10:53 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Sleep experimentImage source, Getty Images

    Are your dreams becoming more lucid and memorable as your sleep patterns change during the coronavirus crisis? If so, you are not alone.

    Professor Mark Blagrove from Swansea University told BBC News it is normal for dreams to be more memorable at times of heightened stress and possibly more sleep.

    “Some of the time our dreams show our subconscious, but at the moment people may very well dream of the obvious stresses currently in our daily lives," he explained.

    "Added to that, because people can sleep in, in the morning, they have a greater amount of rapid eye sleep in the mornings, up to 40 minutes of it, near the end of the night and this can lead to very long dreams and far more dreams being recalled."

    Prof Blagrove added that sharing details of your dreams can be beneficial.

    "The people you share your dreams with can have more empathy for you," he said.

    “Dreams can tell you about your life in a metaphorical way and metaphors about your life can be quite enlightening.”

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  10. Stagecoach shows support to NHS workerspublished at 10:38 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    The Stagecoach bus company in south Wales is showing its support for the hard work done by the health service an key workers.

    It is displaying messages on the front of its vehicles and offering free travel to NHS staff.

    A Stagecoach bus with NHS signImage source, Stagecoach
  11. DIY haircut fail minutes before call with ministerspublished at 10:27 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    The leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council has had a bit of a stressful morning.

    Shortly before Andrew Morgan was due to take part in a video call with ministers he decided to shave his head - but the shaver ran out of charge before he had finished the cut.

    He managed to style it out by being extra careful about his angles during the call.

    "Luckily I sat facing the camera the whole time so the back couldn't be seen," he added.

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    Andrew Morgan's hair from the backImage source, Andrew Morgan
  12. £100m loan scheme fully subscribed in a weekpublished at 10:10 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    A £100m business loan scheme to help companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic is fully subscribed after just one week.

    More than 1,500 applications have been received for the fund, run by the Development Bank of Wales.

    In a normal year the bank would complete 400 investments.

    Economy Minister Ken Skates said the scheme was “absolutely crucial in helping businesses” deal with the pandemic.

    The scheme was launched as part of the Welsh government’s package of economic measures.

    Mr Skates is calling on the Chancellor to “respond and learn” from the success of the scheme and called for more funding for Welsh businesses.

    “The level of demand in just over one week is clear proof that this was the right product at the right time,” he said.

  13. 'Do not call 999 for virus tests and check-ups'published at 09:52 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    The public need to stop calling 999 to ask for Covid-19 tests and check ups, Welsh Ambulance has said.

    "Our emergency ambulance service exists to help people whose lives are in immediate danger and not to give precautionary check ups," says Lee Brooks, its director of operations.

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  14. Coronavirus case at school hubpublished at 09:47 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Llanishen Fach primary schoolImage source, Google

    A school hub in Cardiff has had a case of coronavirus in one of the pupils attending, Cardiff council has said.

    The pupil had been attending the Llanishen Fach hub in Rhiwbina, a message sent to parents in the hub area said.

    The pupil developed symptoms last Thursday and was self-isolating before being tested for Covid-19 on Monday.

    There were no indications any other staff or pupils at the hub had developed symptoms and the school has had a "robust" cleaning regime in place every day, the council said.

  15. Should we lower home schooling expectations?published at 09:33 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    With the Easter "holidays" - whatever that now means under lockdown - here, many parents will be breathing a well-earned sigh of relief as they are temporarily absolved of playing the role of home-schooling teacher.

    Hopes of children carrying on working as usual, just via a computer from home, have quickly vanished over the horizon in many households as the twin demands of supervising children while working from home collide.

    Do we need to lower expectations of home schooling?

    The main teaching unions now recommend expecting no more than three hours' work a day from children.

    Laura Hughes with Sam and Eva
  16. Wuhan emerges from the harshest of lockdownspublished at 09:22 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    It took 76 days, but the Chinese city of Wuhan's lockdown is now at an end.

    For the first time in months, people have been allowed to leave the city where the virus emerged before spreading across the world.

    The highway tolls have reopened and flights and train services are once again leaving the city.

    Residents - provided they're deemed virus free - can finally travel to other parts of China.

    WuhanImage source, STR
  17. 'Vile' people cough in police officers' facespublished at 09:12 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    "Vile" people claiming they have coronavirus have coughed in the faces of two police officers, North Wales Police Federation says.

    "Our members are frontline; desperately trying to protect us all and this happens. Sickening," it said in a tweet.

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  18. 'Doing everything we can' to get protective equipmentpublished at 09:02 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Dr Giri Shankar, lead consultant for communicable disease control at Public Health Wales, says the government is doing "everything they can" to make the right frontline NHS workers who need personal protective equipment (PPE) get it.

    Speaking to Radio Wales Breakfast, Dr Shankar said: "There was a review of the PPE guidance... and on the back of that the government had released lot more items of PPE.

    "Clearly that seems to be insufficient at the moment so further efforts to get the required number of stock is essential and we would be supportive of that."

    Referring to an incident reported yesterday where 10 tests for coronavirus wrongly cleared people of having the disease, he said the incident was a "one-off" caused by moving from one testing platform to another, resulting in those samples being mislabelled.

    He said there were "very robust" testing procedures in place and they were "99.99% accurate".On drive-through testing centres being set up in four locations across Wales, external to carry out testing of frontline workers, he said he did not have a specific date for them all to open but said it would be "very soon".

    Each centre should be able to carry out 200 tests per day, he said.

  19. 'Boris is a fighter' and 'PM power vacuum fears'published at 08:54 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Boris Johnson' second night in intensive care has made the front page of many of today's papers.

    The Papers 8 April 2020
  20. Traffic 'quiet across the network'published at 08:41 British Summer Time 8 April 2020

    Traffic Wales says roads in north Wales are quiet this morning.

    It also shared pictures of an unusually quiet M4.

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