Covid: Mask wearing law could go in Wales if all adults vaccinated, says FM

Facemasks have been compulsory in indoor public places in Wales since last summer

Covid measures like wearing facemasks could be just advice and not legal once all adults in Wales have had a second Covid jab, the first minister has said.

Mark Drakeford also said Wales' rising case numbers in the third Covid wave could peak in July as he confirmed a delay in more lockdown easing.

He said any changes could come once the link between rising cases and people in hospital with Covid is broken.

Health chiefs said rising cases were mainly among children and young people.

Announcing the latest review of lockdown rules in Wales, Mr Drakeford confirmed there would be no changes to the restrictions over the next three weeks "because of the spread of the Delta variant in Wales and across the UK".

It comes as Wales became the first UK nation to fully vaccinate half of its population on Friday.

"When everybody has had two doses we will have a much clearer understanding of the relationship between vaccination and falling ill and hospitalisation," Mr Drakeford said.

'Optimistic view'

"So let us just for a moment take an optimistic view, because in so far as we understand the data at the moment it's looking a bit more optimistic, at that point the things that we would have restored at level one [of restrictions] would have been restored.

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"People would be able to meet indoors in larger numbers, we would have been able to re-open some further parts of the Welsh economy, people would be able to mix in greater numbers.

"And it may - and this is more provisional, I think - we may be moving away from the mandation of those very important actions we all take in our own lives and continue to advise people to abide by them."

The decision not to ease more lockdown restrictions was backed by opposition parties.

Mark Drakeford said there was a big gap between younger and older people in the infection figures

Public Health Wales (PHW) incident director Dr Giri Shankar had warned there is "concern" over a "significant" rise in cases across north Wales. PHW is now closely monitoring whether hospitalisations will increase.

How fast is Wales' case rising?

He said case rates, that have been increasing across Wales, are now doubling every seven to ten days.

Wales' national Covid infection and test positivity rates have continued to rise as PHW reported on Friday one more person has died and 336 further people have tested positive for coronavirus.

PHW said Wales' case rate is now 37.6 per 100,000 people while the positivity rate is up to 2.9% - the highest rates since March.

Wales' first minister said there were about 1,100 cases of the Delta variant of concern, that originated in India, in Wales - more than double last week's total.

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Mr Drakeford warned that cases of the more transmissible variant are "rising" and this is driving up the all-Wales coronavirus case rate.

But he said it is highest in north Wales, where as many as 97% of new coronavirus are caused by the delta variant.

'Big gap' between cases in young and old

He also added Covid cases are higher and rising faster in younger people compared with older people.

Mr Drakeford said there was "a big gap" between the two age groups with the all-Wales rate around 67 cases per 100,000 people in the under 25s compared to 9 cases for the over 60s.

Hospitalisation rates are being closely monitored to ensure vaccination has kept people safe from Covid

"In north Wales, where cases are at their highest, the rates are more than seven times higher for the under 25s in Flintshire than for the over 60s," he said.

Mr Drakeford added that more than nine out of 10 people over 65, together with healthcare staff and people living in older people's care homes in Wales have had two doses of the vaccine.

'Concerned'

PHW said it will take another two to three weeks to see the impact of the rise on hospital admissions, given most of the vulnerable and elderly have been fully vaccinated.

"We are concerned about the significant increase in new cases over the past few weeks," said Dr Shankar.

"It's the younger age groups in whom we are seeing the most new cases.

"We are closely observing whether this level of community activity is having any impact on hospital admissions. At the moment there are no signals to suggest they are going up but we are keeping a very close eye on that."

While rates are rising across Wales, it is across the north that it seeing the steepest rise amid a series of clusters.

Flintshire has the highest Covid-19 rate per 100,000 of population with 110 cases with fellow north Wales counties Conwy and Denbighshire second and third.

PHW believes the increase in north Wales is linked to travel across from cities such as Manchester and

At the press conference, the first minister said that in previous waves there has always been a lag between infections in the community and an increase in hospitalisations and deaths.

"If this wave follows the same pattern, we can expect to see hospitalisations and deaths peaking in August," Mr Drakeford said.

"What we don't yet know is what impact our high rates of vaccination will have and how much the relationship between infections and hospitalisations has been weakened."

What do the other political parties say?

Opposition parties have broadly supported the delay any easing of lockdown rules in Wales as daily Covid case numbers hit a four-month high on Thursday.

Plaid Cymru's health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth, whose Ynys Mon constituency has seen a cluster in Rhosneigr, said he was "hopeful" but felt restrictions should not be eased yet.

"We need to know what effect the rise in cases and the vaccinations are having on hospital admissions," he told BBC Radio Wales.

"Whilst we are waiting for the scientific and data evidence we still need to keep things pretty tight."

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However the Welsh Conservatives have called on the Welsh government to follow the UK and Scottish governments with a proposed date for lifting lockdown.

"Wales is the only mainland UK nation not to have a date for easing lockdown restrictions," Vale of Clwyd MS Gareth Davies told BBC Radio Wales.

"We had only one death with Covid recently and minimal hospitalisations so the data is showing positive signs.

"So the Welsh government needs to respond to this and give the people of Wales some hope with a roadmap out of lockdown."