First Minister Mark Drakeford has given a press conference about the current Covid situation in Wales this lunchtime.

Here's a summary of what he said:

• Omicron wave is set to peak in about 10 to 14 days' time
• Latest figures show there are 994 people in hospital with Covid - and 34 people have died from the virus so far this year
• In Wales, staff absences from illness and isolation across the NHS is 8.3% but it is as high as 16.5% in some NHS organisations
• No follow up PCR test is necessary after a positive lateral flow test result
• He also criticised the UK government, describing the prime minister as "politically paralysed" for not taking action on Covid restrictions
• Meanwhile the Welsh Conservatives have called for a "roadmap" out of restrictions for hospitality

Thank you for joining us on the live page today.

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During the press briefing on Friday, Mark Drakeford accused Boris Johnson of failing to take the necessary action to protect people in England from Covid.

"The one country that stands up as not taking action to protect its population is England," said the first minister.

Mr Drakeford made the comments after confirming that Covid restrictions would not be relaxed in Wales.

Downing Street has said the prime minister saw no need for further restrictions, as England's current measures were "balanced and proportionate".

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price said the “balance is broadly right” on the Welsh government’s Covid restrictions.

"While the position is still worsening, it would be odd to remove those restrictions," he said.

He said his party did have concerns about some of the details but he hoped to raise those at a briefing after the weekend from the Technical Advisory Cell – the group of scientists which advises Welsh government ministers.

On whether Wales should be able to have home crowds for the forthcoming Six Nations rugby championship games, Mr Price said if the modelling was correct then “it should be possible to remove these particular protections in time for those games to happen”.

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Mr Drakeford added: "I know those businesses would rather be earning money by trading in the normal way rather than relying on the help the government can provide.

"But in the round, we feel we've got the best balance we can strike."

He reiterated that businesses were still able to trade and that hospitality was open, not closed.

"They open in circumstances where people know that every step that can be taken has been taken to make those settings Covid secure so you can go out with confidence if you choose to do that.

"And the Welsh government will step in to help those businesses deal with the reduced income which trying to trade during a very, very difficult part of this whole experience inevitably places on those businesses."

Asked by Andy Davies of Channel Four News about the impact of the current restrictions on the hospitality sector, the first minister said businesses were already being affected before the restrictions.

"Businesses were being affected not by the actions of government, but by the fact that people were making decisions for themselves as well before we introduced level two restrictions, because they could see the way in which the numbers were rising.

"People act more cautiously in those circumstances. So the impact on the sector has been real.

"We have put £120m of Welsh government money on the table for the month of January and into the start of February.

"Cheques will start going to businesses from the week of the 10th of January with more help to follow."

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After the briefing, the Welsh Conservatives Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies was asked for his reaction to Mark Drakeford's briefing on BBC Wales Today.

He said he was concerned that people had been having parties in their own homes because of restrictions on hospitality.

"I think that's an issue that does need to be addressed sooner rather than later," he said.

Mr Davies said it was "important that we have a sense that there's a roadmap out of these restrictions, so that we can get that sense of normality back into society and, importantly, the money starts flowing into the businesses that have been affected by the restrictions".

First Minister Mark Drakeford has accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of failing to take the necessary action to protect people in England from the Omicron Covid variant.

Mr Drakeford said England was the “outlier” in the UK when came to Covid restrictions.

"Wales is taking action as is Scotland, as is Northern Ireland and are countries right across Europe and right across the globe.

"The one country that stands up as not taking action to protect its population is England.

"Here in Wales we have a government that is capable of acting and determined to act when that is necessary to protect our population.

"In England, we have a government that is politically paralysed with a prime minister unable to secure an agreement through his cabinet to take the actions that his advisors have been telling him ought to be taken.

"Even if he could get his cabinet to agree them, he can’t get his MPs to agree with him."

When asked why the case rate in Wales was higher than the rest of the UK, Mark Drakeford responded by saying that was "an overly simplistic view of the evidence".

"Actually, there are parts of Wales that are lower than most other parts of the United Kingdom and there are parts of Wales where things are higher, just as there are in other parts of the UK as well.

"You compare the whole country, you don't get a true reflection of the way in which this variant has moved around and moved across the country.

"And where there are different rates of coronavirus in different places, the highest level I think today is in part of Northern Ireland, so I just think it's it's not a helpful comparison really and it doesn't tell you anything that is an accurate reflection of the position we are facing in Wales."

Asked what triggers would have to be happen to allow the reduction of restrictions, Mark Drakeford said it would not be in the next two weeks.

He said: "As people will have seen from the model that we showed earlier, the positions over the next 10 days to two weeks is not one that will ease.

"The numbers are likely to continue to rise. So, it will not be until we have passed the peak of infections, and we are sure that we can see the pressures from the spread of this virus in the community are beginning to reduce.

"That will then take a while as it always does to feed through into reducing pressure on health services, hospital services, critical care services.

"So, I don't anticipate that over the next fortnight we will be in a position to move away from the level of restrictions we currently have in place, but we will track it every day.

"We will review it every week and when we see that corner being turned and we can see the numbers as we hope are coming down reasonably rapidly, that will be the point at which we will be able to assess when it is safe to begin to lift the extra restrictions and protections we put in place so far."

Mark Drakeford said it would not be right to say the Welsh NHS was "being overwhelmed" but it was "certainly facing very challenging circumstances".

He said Omicron was "driving more people to fall ill and then to need hospital treatment" and also making more health staff ill.

"Health boards are having to make difficult decisions" including with maternity services which had "o "concentrate the staff they have available in fewer places so that a service for expectant mothers can go on being provided".

First Minister Mark Drakeford said staff absences were also putting the NHS under pressure.

"Our NHS workforce, which has worked so hard throughout the pandemic, is not immune to coronavirus," said Mr Drakeford.

"The latest figures suggest staff absences from illness and isolation across the NHS is 8.3%, but it is as high as 16.5% in some NHS organisations.

"We are already seeing the consequences of these high rates – some planned procedures and treatments are being postponed and some health boards are asking people to only come to A&E if they have life-threatening emergencies."

Mr Drakeford also gave an update on the booster programme in Wales.

He said: I’m pleased to say almost 1.7 million people have had their booster and more people are coming forward for their first and second doses every day.

"It is never too late to have your vaccine in Wales."

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First Minister Mark Drakeford said the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid-19 was rising.

"The latest figures show there are now a total of 994, just under a thousand, Covid-19 patients in our hospitals – a rise of 43% compared to last week and the highest number since last March," he said.

"There are around 40 people with Covid-19 in critical care at the moment.

"The majority of those people are people who have not been vaccinated," he added.

He said "sadly" 38 deaths had been reported so far this year.

The peak of the Omicron wave is thought to be up to two weeks away according to First Minister Mark Drakeford.

Mr Drakeford said the peak hadn’t been reached yet in Wales.

He said this could be "another 10 to 14 days away".

The latest figures show there are more than 2,300 cases per 100,000 people across Wales.

Mr Drakeford said cases were highest among 20 to 40-year-olds.

"But we are also seeing rises in older age groups as community transmission increases rapidly," he said.

"These are worrying figures but they are in line with the modelling forecasts."

Mark Drakeford added: "The rapid rise in cases caused by the Omicron wave means we are all facing a difficult month ahead.

"We have already seen extremely high levels of infections in the community since Christmas and we must be prepared for cases to rise even higher in the coming weeks – just as they have elsewhere in the UK.

"We can take some comfort from the fact this form of the virus may not be as severe as we had initially feared."

He added that the speed of infection spreading was continuing to be a "cause for concern".

"We have put proportionate measures in place to help keep Wales open and keep Wales safe as we navigate our way through this Omicron wave.

"But we need everyone’s help to do this.

"Over the next two weeks it will be more important than ever to keep on doing all those things which have helped to protect us all throughout the pandemic."

Mark Drakeford said Wales would remain at at alert level two for the time being.

He added: "However, we have recently made some changes to the testing regime and self-isolation rules.

"Because cases of coronavirus are so high in the community at the moment, we no longer need to routinely take a follow-up PCR test after a positive lateral flow test result.

"This change makes it even more important that we all register our lateral flow test results online and, if these tests are positive, we must self-isolate immediately on notification of the result."