Another lockdown may have to be introduced in Wales “immediately” after Christmas if cases of Covid-19 are not brought under control, the first minister has warned.
Mark Drakeford warned the virus was “spreading faster than our models had predicted” and said the position was now “very serious indeed”.
Wales has announced a series of measures designed to cut infection rates, including that secondary schools will shut their doors next week.
Mr Drakeford said if those restrictions did not succeed “it is inevitable we will have to consider” changes “immediately after Christmas.”
This would see Wales move from what is currently defined as alert level 3 to level 4, the equivalent of lockdown.
Mr Drakeford warned that the NHS in Wales would not be able to cope coronavirus-related admissions continued at their current rate in coming.
During a press conference in Cardiff, he announced that outdoor attractions across Wales, such as winter wonderlands, would be closed in a bid to limit the spread of the virus.
An updated coronavirus control plan will be published next week to help people, businesses and public services plan “in these rapidly changing circumstances,” he said.
Mr Drakeford also said ministers had considered whether or not to revise plans to ease coronavirus restrictions for five days over Christmas.
During a weekly meeting between the cabinet office minister Michael Gove and the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: “The question was raised, should we revisit the decision we had made in relation to Christmas?
“The decision was that we shouldn’t do so – many people will have made plans on the basis of what was announced – but that we would reinforce the message, each one of us would reinforce the message, that that extra freedom for those five days must be used responsibly.
“That people must think ahead, plan ahead, reduce the risk, don’t do anything that could result in those people who are the most important people to you, the people you have chosen to meet over those five days, please don’t do anything that places them at greater and additional risk.
“That is a message that we will be reinforcing here in Wales, the United Kingdom Government will be reinforcing, and will certainly be the message being deployed by my colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland as well.”
