Local Democracy Reporting Service

Up to 30 people will be allowed to attend funerals at cemeteries in parts of south east Wales from Monday.

The Gwent Local Resilience Forum, which prepares and responds to major emergencies, agreed with the Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen councils to increase the number of mourners permitted to attend funerals at cemeteries.

The number of mourners allowed to attend funerals at cemeteries was raised to 20 at the start of June and from Monday it will be raised again to 30 people.

However, the number of mourners attending indoor cremation services at Gwent Crematorium in Cwmbran will remain at 10 due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

Image source, Getty Images

Natural Resources Wales is asking tourists and day-trippers to consider lesser-known beauty spots to visit this weekend.

It tweeted: "If it feels too busy it is too busy."

Transport for Wales says people should still only use its trains for essential journeys.

People in Wales must wear a face covering on public transport to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, unless they are exempt.

Plaid Cymru has responded to a further easing of lockdown restrictions by calling for a "robust mechanism to stamp out coronavirus outbreaks".

The party tweeted that the recent spike in cases in Wrexham was a "warning we still live with a very real Covid-19 threat".

The national governing body for Welsh swimming says it's "over the moon" that pools can reopen from 10 August.

Gyms, leisure centres and indoor play areas, including soft play, can also reopen from the same date.

BBC Radio Wales

First Minister Mark Drakeford says he discussed not relaxing lockdown rules in Wrexham.

The town is dealing with a spike in coronavirus cases.

But Mr Drakeford said "weighing it all up and knowing that the Wrexham spikes are contained to particular sites at the moment, we think it's right to allow people in Wrexham to benefit from these steps ahead as well as everybody else".

"If we need to, we've always said, we would take local action and we review that very carefully every day."

Image source, Google

• Pubs, restaurants and cafes can reopen indoors in Wales from Monday, providing there is social distancing
• Up to 30 people can meet outdoors from Monday, regardless of how many households they are from
• Children under 11 will not have to social distance from Monday
• Licensed wedding venues will be able to reopen from Monday, but receptions will need to be outdoors
• Indoor bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls can reopen from Monday
• Swimming pools, gyms and leisure centres can reopen from Monday week
• Indoor play areas, including soft play centres, can also reopen from 10 August
• More people may be able to meet indoors in Wales from Saturday, 15 August if Covid-19 infection rates in Wales continue to fall.

BBC Radio Cymru

Licensed wedding venues will be able to reopen from Monday in Wales, but receptions will need to be outdoors.

First Minister Mark Drakeford told Radio Cymru that from next Monday “hotels and other places where people can come together for weddings can restart doing them”.

He said “mid-way through August if we can” he would like to “give more powers to those sites to serve food inside” in Wales.

“We’re not quite there yet because after seeing what’s happened in England and seeing what’s happened around the world, we want two weeks more evidence to see if it’s safe to do that," said Mr Drakeford.

The Welsh Government says numbers will be limited by social distancing – it will depend on what a venue can accommodate with 2m gaps.

Image source, Getty Images

Businesses who are not observing social distancing rules will face swifter punishment in new powers given to local authorities from the Welsh Government.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the "strengthening of enforcement regimes" will be given to local councils on 10 August.

Pubs, cafes and restaurants will reopen in Wales on Monday and gyms, swimming pools and children's soft play centres will be able to reopen on Monday week.

Mr Drakeford said he wants businesses breaking rules to be dealt with “more decisively and more swiftly”.

"We want to make sure that when places do reopen and the rules that we are agreeing with the different sectors are properly observed," Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales.

Image source, Getty Images

Urgent action is needed to reduce the backlog of cases in the criminal courts in Wales, experts have warned.

Law Society members say the system was on its knees before Covid-19, but the pandemic has brought added challenges.

Now the former Lord Chief Justice of Wales, Lord Thomas, says the only way to find extra cash for an underfunded system is to devolve powers to Wales.

The Ministry of Justice said it had prioritised urgent cases and invested millions in technology.

Swansea council chamber will serve as a Nightingale or Blackstone court, hearing less complex cases, and Cardiff Magistrates' Court held its first Saturday session on 25 July.

Normally magistrates' courts only sit for remand hearings on a Saturday.

Thousands of cases are yet to be heard in Wales' crown courts - against a backdrop of tens of thousands in England and Wales, and more than half a million in the magistrates' courts.

The Welsh Government thanks the people of Wales for keeping rates of coronavirus "low" so more lockdown restrictions can be eased.

Indoor children's play areas, including soft play centres, in Wales can reopen on Monday week.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said indoor play areas can reopen on 10 August - the same day as gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres.

Image source, Getty Images

People in Wales may be able to meet indoors from Saturday, 15 August if coronavirus inflection rates continue to fall, First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced today.

Here's some reaction on social media

Separate households have been banned from meeting each other indoors in parts of northern England following a spike in coronavirus cases.

The health secretary said the increase in transmission in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire was "largely due" to people not observing social distancing.

More than four million people will be affected by the tighter restrictions.

Labour criticised the government for a lack of clarity over the measures and for announcing them "late at night".

More details were published, external two hours after the initial announcement.

The government acknowledged the measures would "come as a blow" to Muslim communities preparing to celebrate Eid this weekend, although places of worship remain open subject to social distancing rules.

The new local lockdown rules, which came into force at midnight, come nearly four weeks after restrictions were eased across England, allowing people to meet indoors for the first time since late March.

The government published further guidance on the changes, external on Friday morning.

Image source, Reuters

Allowing friends and extended family to meet inside again is the "most risky thing you can do" as Wales considers more coronavirus lockdown easing, the first minister has said.

The Welsh Government is considering allowing people to meet inside from Saturday, 15 August - after pubs, cafe and restaurants reopen on Monday and gyms and swimming pools open again on Monday week.

Mark Drakeford said he "would like to offer more opportunities for people to meet indoors" but wants more data on the infection rate in Wales before confirming it.

"It is the most risky thing you can do" Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio Wales.

"People would have heard this morning freedoms in the north of England being reversed in relation to people meeting indoors because of the evidence that the virus is being spread by households meeting indoors.

"We hope not to be in a position of having to reverse decisions in Wales so we will wait another couple of weeks."

Image source, Getty Images

The reopening of pubs, restaurants and cafes indoors in Wales has been confirmed for Monday.

Hospitality businesses had already been allowed to open outdoors in Wales, and indoors in other parts of the UK.

They have been shut since the middle of March, just before the country went into lockdown.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would be "pleased" to eat indoors in pubs that take social distancing measures.

"We said a couple of weeks ago that, provided everything went according to plan, we would be able to reopen indoor hospitality - cafes, restaurants, bars and so on, on 3 August," Mr Drakeford told radio station Heart South Wales.

"It depended upon the state of the coronavirus. We've had the latest checks. We're confident now that we'll be able to go ahead."

Image source, Getty Images

People in Wales have been warned that the coronavirus has "not gone away" despite the easing of more restrictions.

Some 1,556 people in Wales have died with Covid-19 since March but as deaths and cases continue to fall, the Welsh Government has been easing lockdown restrictions for the past six weeks.

Wales is to further relax the rules as pubs, restaurants and cafes can reopen indoors from Monday and gyms and swimming pools can reopen from a week on Monday.

But First Minister Mark Drakeford, who has previously said the risk of a second coronavirus wave is "absolutely real", has issued a stark warning to people who think the pandemic is over in Wales.

"We've all got to be aware that that this virus has not gone away," he said.

"It can surge back if you do things in the wrong way. In Wales, we continue to take a very cautious step by step approach."

BBC Radio Wales

People in Wales may be able to meet indoors from Saturday, 15 August if coronavirus rates continue to fall, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said in a possible further easing of lockdown restrictions.

From 3 August

• Welsh pubs, restaurants and cafes can reopen indoors
• Up to 30 can meet outdoors from Monday
• Children under 11 will no longer have to maintain a 2m distance from people
• Indoor bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls can reopen

From 10 August

• Gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres can reopen

Gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres will be allowed to reopen in Wales from Monday, 10 August, First Minister Mark Drakeford has confirmed.