Thank you for joining us for today's live page on Covid.

It's been positive news for many, with the rest of Covid rules set to be scrapped by the end of March.

But some concerns remain, with the first minister reminding people the pandemic was not over yet.

The main take-aways from today's briefing are:

• Mass testing and Covid rules to be axed
• Mask wearing laws to end
• Drakeford 'will not throw away' slower approach

Have a great weekend!

We have had two years of statistics on Covid-19, with daily death figures and cases rising and falling.

But how are we keeping tabs on infections now that the rules are being scrapped?

Since the summer of 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has held a weekly swab survey involving thousands of households across Wales.

It has become a reliable and increasingly important tool to measure the level of infections, as testing data becomes harder to read.

The latest data, based on swab samples of more than 9,600 people, estimates that one in 30 people in Wales had Covid in the week ending 26 February.

That is 94,200 people - although down again on last week's 98,200, ONS says the estimate remains uncertain in Wales.

That works out as 3.1% of Wales' population having Covid last week - which is the lowest proportion of the UK nations and all but north-east and north-west England.

The age group with the highest proportion of people with Covid was estimated to be nine-year-olds (4.9%) and also higher for those in their 30s, rising again to 4.47% of 38-year-olds.

Image source, ONS

Gilbert John
Reporter

Are you glad to see Wales' last restrictions end? We hit the streets to find out what people think.

Paul Boag, a care worker from Newcastle Emlyn, said he felt "cautious optimism".

“We have to move on some time but as a care worker I will still be wearing a mask in a shop and with my clients," he said.

"As long as I have the tests, I will be taking a test every night before I meet clients the next day.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to go away, as a lot of people have said it’s going to be like the flu and we’ll take precautions accordingly."

Image source, British Medical Association

Dr David Bailey, chair of the British Medical Association in Wales, said the shift to returning to normal life was "inevitable when we see what's happening in Scotland and England".

Although "the threat is clearly receding", the GP from Caerphilly said he expected most health care settings would risk-assess the need to wear face masks after laws end.

Dr Bailey said some testing was needed in order to monitor people who were ill and to keep them safe.

"The most important message is the elderly and clinically vulnerable will be given a booster and all of us will continue to need to get immunised for the foreseeable future," he said.

Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru's health spokesman said it was important to know how the Welsh government would respond if "things take a turn for the worst".

Rhun ap Iorwerth asked: "How prepared is government to act quickly, and what would acting quickly look like?"

He said there were "plenty of questions to be asking" about the handling of coronavirus.

"As much as we're pleased that we're in a much better place now, we're not quite out of the woods either," he added.

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd said all legal restrictions should be lifted now rather than wait until the end of the month.

Andrew RT Davies said Wales was the last part of the UK to lift all Covid rules.

“The first minister couldn’t really offer a scientific argument to sustain these restrictions here in Wales," he said.

“The danger is, by keeping them any longer than they are necessary... should they be reintroduced at a later date because of a new variant spiking Covid, people will not buy into them.”

Failing to spot new Covid variants due to the phasing out of PCR testing is "a genuine anxiety", the first minister said.

Mr Drakeford said it was why they had tried "unsuccessfully" to persuade the UK government to take "a more gradual approach to the run down of testing".

But he said the Welsh government's own testing capacity would be used to allow surveillance to carry on.

Wales was lucky to have one of the best capacities for genomic sequencing in the world, he added.

Along with other measures such as the ONS infection survey, he said it will "give us a level of surveillance sufficient to be able to spot a new variant".

Conversations would continue with the UK government, he said, to ensure there is sufficient surveillance and if it needed to be ramped up that there is "a proper plan and a proper capacity to be able to do that".

Image source, Getty Images

First Minister Mark Drakeford says he is confident people will continue to wear masks and take other steps to keep the most vulnerable safe from Covid.

The Welsh government is dropping legal requirements for people to wear masks, but official advice is that they should still be used in crowded spaces.

Mr Drakeford said: “I think people in Wales have acted throughout the pandemic in a way that recognises not simply that those actions are helpful to them, but they are keen to ensure that other people are kept safe as well.”

Wales is getting to a "steady state" on Covid "where we have stability in managing the virus", the first minister has told the briefing.

"That's why we are able to move from relying on the law to relying on the sort of guidance that, for example, kicks in if there's a measles outbreak somewhere," he said.

Answering questions from journalists, he added: "There are other infectious diseases that we live with, and we have ways of managing them.

"We're on that part, we hope, of the coronavirus journey when we will be able to manage it in that more everyday way, but managing it does not mean ignoring it.

"It means taking sensible measures of the sort we've described today."

Image source, Getty Images

In Wales the general public's access to testing will be phased out over three months, under plans published today.

From 28 March:

• PCR tests will no longer be available for testing most people with symptoms
• Access to general public to free LFTs for testing people without symptoms will stop
• Routine asymptomatic testing in most schools, childcare and workplaces will also end
• While self-isolation will no longer be law, people will still be advised to get a test if they have symptoms and isolate if positive

From April to June:

• Testing for the general public with symptoms will be with LFTs at home rather than PCR tests completed in labs
• LFTs will be available for free online and the result should be reported
• Contact tracing will continue

From the end of June:

• LFTs cease to be available for testing people with symptoms
• Contact tracing and self-isolation support payments end
• Self-isolation guidance will be changed to take additional precautions when ill, such as staying at home if possible

PCR tests will be kept for symptomatic health and social care staff, care home residents and prisoners.

They will also be retained for testing hospital patients with symptoms, and those without who are vulnerable, health and social care staff with symptoms, care home residents and prisoners.

The decision means LFTs will be available for free for a few months longer than they will be in England.

Image source, Getty Images

Some of the "ways we have learned to behave, which have kept us safe" will continue to be important after Covid rules end, the first minister says.

Mark Drakeford said the Welsh government “will continue to provide guidance to make it clear that we should self-isolate if we are ill, for example”.

Businesses and employers would still be subject to health and safety law, he said.

“Schools will continue to operate using the national framework and, for now, we recommend face coverings are worn in indoor communal areas by all staff and secondary school-age learners,” he added.

Covid legal restrictions will be scrapped in Wales in just over three weeks' time, providing the public health situation does not deteriorate.

From March 28, Mr Drakeford said: “The legal requirement to wear face coverings will end.

“The legal requirement to self-isolate will end.

“The legal requirement for businesses to carry out a specific Covid risk assessment and take reasonable measures will end as well.”

First Minister Mark Drakeford says the pandemic is not over “but we need to think about how we can live safely with this virus – just as we live with other infectious illnesses”.

Mr Drakeford said the Welsh government had published a plan which sets out how this can be done.

He said the plan ensures “we can respond quickly if a new variant emerges or if we have another pandemic wave, which puts unsustainable pressure on our NHS”.

“If the public health situation remains favourable, we will start this transition by removing the legal underpinning of the measures we have lived with for the last two years at the end of March,” he added.

There have been falls in the number of positive cases reported in Welsh universities and a reduction in the number of school pupils absent due to Covid-19 in recent weeks, said the first minister.

Mark Drakeford said the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is stable at around 830.

“While it’s good news that this figure isn’t rising, at this level, pandemic pressures continue to be felt across the NHS and there are some serious knock-on consequences on other health services and treatments,” he said.

The first minister says case rates have been “steadily falling” since the “enormous spike” of Omicron cases over Christmas.

Mark Drakeford said the trend “has continued to be downwards”.

Mr Drakeford said the latest Office for National Statistics infection survey suggested about one in 30 people were infected at the end of February.

“Levels of infection were lower in Wales than any other part of the United Kingdom," he said.