Coronavirus in Wales: Your daily update

Coronavirus: What you need to know graphic featuring three key points: wash your hands for 20 seconds; use a tissue for coughs; avoid touching your face

All schools are to close by Friday with the Easter break being brought forward, according to the Welsh Government.

All school exams are to be cancelled this summer with GCSEs and A-levels graded on work already completed.

The health minister has also warned individual funerals may not be possible if virus deaths are at the "top end of the reasonable worst case scenario".

It was also announced NHS frontline staff will start to get coronavirus testing.

Ministers have also pledged to ensure Welsh businesses are treated equally to those in England.

They have set aside £1.4bn to aid firms reeling from the impact of the virus.

In other developments, Toyota has suspended production at Deeside, and the Church in Wales has said services should be put on hold.

Meanwhile, second home owners and caravanners have been urged not to come to north Wales to self-isolate.

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

Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton said the measures introduced on Monday "should reduce" peak demand on the NHS by over 60%.

"It's no longer appropriate for people to be gathering in large groups", Dr Atherton added.

On Tuesday it was announced a second patient in Wales had died from coronavirus. The 96-year-old was being treated at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

Thirteen new cases have tested positive for COVID-19 in Wales, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 149 - although the true number of cases is likely to be higher - and the virus has now been detected in every council area, according to health bosses.

Dr Atherton said about 70,000 people in Wales were "particularly vulnerable" and he expected further measures to protect them would be announced later this week.

He said the issue of whether to close schools was "under constant review," while the testing of NHS staff for the virus was being actively looked at.

What else happened on Wednesday?

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Conwy council warned householders against placing used tissues in their paper recycling boxes

  • All schools in Wales to close by Friday

  • Education Minister Kirsty Williams says closure initially for four weeks - but could be considerably longer

  • Summer examinations will not go ahead with GCSEs and A-levels graded on work already completed

  • Health Minister Vaughan Gething said funeral restrictions may be possible under a "reasonable worst case scenario"

  • Coronavirus testing will be rolled out to frontline NHS staff in Wales

  • £1.4bn is being made available by the Welsh Government to ensure Welsh firms are not wiped out by the virus

  • Toyota is suspending production at its European factories, including at its Deeside engine plant

  • The trial of six men and a teenager accused of murdering 17-year-old Harry Baker in Barry has been abandoned because of coronavirus. A re-trial has been scheduled for November

  • Conwy council warned householders against placing used tissues in their paper recycling boxes and said, if found, the containers would not be emptied. It said they should go among the general waste in wheelie bins which are emptied every four weeks

  • Pembrokeshire County Council has closed its day centres indefinitely due to the vulnerability of those that attend them

  • It follows a decision taken last week by Ceredigion County Council to close such facilities

  • The Church in Wales said all services and gatherings for public worship "should no longer take place", with weddings postponed beyond July and funerals also affected

  • Rhondda Cynon Taf council posted on Facebook that it was cancelling all upcoming events - including its Easter Egg-stravaganza - until the end of June, following the advice relating to social distancing and mass gatherings issued by the UK government. Those who have already bought tickets will be contacted and a refund arranged

  • Wrexham-based music festival Focus Wales, with hundreds of gigs across 20 stages, has been postponed from April until October

  • The RHS Flower Show in Bute Park, Cardiff, in April has been cancelled

  • Cardiff Council has closed a range of buildings, including St David's Hall, Cardiff Castle, the riding school and the New Theatre, until further notice

  • Millbrook Primary School in Bettws, Newport, announced it had to close for a "few weeks" due to staff absence

  • Heritage railways in north Wales - the Welsh Highland, Ffestiniog and Llangollen - have been suspended

  • Filming has been halted on the BBC's continuous dramas, including Casualty and Pobol y Cwm which are made in Cardiff

  • Hospitals have imposed visitor restrictions in Cardiff and north Wales where people are allowed to see patients for 15 minutes

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