Family and friends at the heart of new coronavirus regulations in Wales
The latest package of changes follow the 6th review of the coronavirus regulations and focus on enabling friends and family to meet each other outdoors and enabling more businesses to open indoors.
The First Minster will explain that consideration is being given to extend the number of people able to meet indoors, however this will depend on people continuing to follow the rules and levels of the virus in Wales.
And he will urge people to follow the new rules and guidance to help keep Wales safe and control the spread of coronavirus in the face of worrying trends across Europe.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said:
"We are becoming accustomed to living with coronavirus but we shouldn’t forget the danger it poses. This is a deadly disease and the risk to our health has not gone away – as we can see in parts of Europe where there have been new outbreaks and new measures introduced to control its spread.
The rates of the virus in Wales remain low, allowing us to relax the restrictions further over the next few weeks but we can only do this if everyone continues to take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Businesses are required to take all reasonable measures to minimise the risk of spreading the virus on their premises. They have worked really hard to put in place measures to protect staff and customers. And we all need to do our bit too by complying with these and to keep our distance whenever we leave home and meet others.
To the small minority who aren’t following the rules – we will take action. We’re working with our enforcement authorities here in Wales to ensure they have the powers and resources they need. I want to make sure all the measures developed to keep us safe are complied with."
A series of changes will be made to the coronavirus regulations over the next 3 weeks:
From 3 August:
- The restrictions preventing more than two households or extended households meeting outdoors will be changed to allow up to 30 people to meet outdoors. Physical distancing must be maintained at all times.
- Pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes will be able to re-open indoors. As will indoor bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls.
- Licenced wedding venues will be able to re-open to provide wedding ceremonies. However, indoor receptions will not be able to take place for the time being – they will be considered as part of the changes for August 15.
- The guidance will be updated to relax the position on children under 11 having to maintain a 2 metres distance from each other or from adults. This reflects the scientific evidence, which shows the risk of transmission is lower among this age group. However, it is very important older children and young adults continue to follow social distancing and the other measures to keep them safe.
If conditions remain favourable, from 10 August:
- Swimming pools, indoor fitness studios, gyms, spas and indoor leisure centres will be able to re-open.
- Children’s indoor play areas will be able to open.
The Welsh Government is also exploring whether changes can be made to the rules to enable people to meet indoors with other people who aren’t part of their household or extended household from August 15.
The First Minister added:
"It is thanks to the hard efforts of everyone in Wales that we have been able to control the spread of coronavirus and relax the restrictions. We can only continue to do this if everyone carries on this hard work.
If we stop now, there is a real risk we will see new outbreaks of coronavirus and we may have to reverse some of these restrictions to control its spread again.
We are facing the likelihood of a resurgence of the virus over the autumn and winter – this will not be over by Christmas. We all have an ongoing responsibility to keep Wales safe. This means maintaining social distancing, washing our hands often and thinking carefully about where we go, what we’re doing and why."
The current proposals at the last review on 31 July, which are subject to change, envisage re-opening the visitor economy as follows:
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6 July 2020
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Outdoor visitor attractions re-opened
On 6 July the Welsh Government lifted the requirement to stay local allowing people to travel around Wales and to visit outdoor visitor attractions, subject to strict social distancing and hand hygiene guidelines.
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11 July 2020
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Self-contained holiday accommodation re-opened
Self-catering accommodation can only be let to members of the same or extended household. This also includes serviced accommodation where bedroom occupancy can only be let to the same or extended household and not, for example, friends booking a twin bedroom or a family bedroom, etc.
This includes any accommodation that is entirely self-contained, e.g. holiday cottages, holiday caravans including touring caravans, motorhomes, boats and some glamping accommodation with their own kitchens and bathrooms that no other guests use.
Also in this category:
- Hotels and other serviced accommodation (e.g. B&Bs, hostels, etc.) that do provide en-suite rooms and can provide room service meals.
- Caravan parks where accommodation is entirely self-contained – but shared facilities on the premises will remain closed, such as swimming pools, leisure facilities, shared shower and toilets blocks, shared laundry, etc., and public areas in other accommodation types. This means any caravan or touring site where individual accommodation has its own supply of water for on board shower, WC and cooking with strict application of guidance on shared waste disposal and water points.
All shared facilities, aside from water and disposal points, should remain closed including toilets, shower blocks, laundry, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, cafes, etc.
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13 July 2020
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Pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants re-opened outdoors
Indoor visitor attractions
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25 July 2020
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Camping and caravanning and other accommodation types (e.g. hostels) with shared facilities (e.g. shared toilets, bathrooms, shower blocks, pot washing, and laundry facilities) re-opening.
*Shared kitchens - until further guidance has been produced, our advice is to operators with shared kitchen spaces is to close these spaces to groups unless the accommodation is occupied solely by the same or agreed extended household.
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3 August 2020
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Indoor hospitality (pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants) re-opening.
Bowling alleys, bingo halls and auction houses open
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10 August 2020
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Indoor play areas, swimming pools, leisure centres, indoor fitness centres and gyms prepare for re-opening.
Check back later for more information.
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TBC
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Events under consideration
Check back later for more information.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for safely re-opening your business
Visitor Economy Guidance is available to help tourism and hospitality businesses safely re-open during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Additional guidance has also been produced and updated in consultation with the Hospitality sector for Pubs, Bars, Cafes and Restaurants re-opening indoors and outdoors, which can be viewed on the UK Hospitality website.
As each premises is different, businesses should read all guidance to understand the measures to be considered to re-open the business safely.
A list of Frequently Asked Questions in relation to Coronavirus (COVID19) is also updated regularly on Gov.Wales - please check back regularly.
Guidance is also available to ensure social and physical distancing measures are observed at all times.
Contact tracing
The Welsh Government’s Test, Trace, Protect strategy will be key in controlling the spread of new outbreaks as lockdown restrictions ease. As people increasingly come into greater contact with others, there is a higher risk of transmitting COVID-19 in some sectors. This is because customers and visitors will spend a longer time on these premises than in other surroundings, and will potentially come into close contact with people outside of their household.
For businesses operating in these sectors, policy guidance from the Welsh Government is available and describes the important role that businesses play in supporting contact tracing and keeping Wales safe and includes information on what will happen if a visitor, customer or member of staff displays symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19.
Stay up to date with tourism industry news
We are committed to providing the support and assurance the business community needs during these unprecedented difficult times and have issued several Coronavirus (COVID-19) related bulletins which can be found on the Tourism Industry Coronavirus (COVID-19) Bulletins page.
Business Wales is providing businesses with tailored support and advice about dealing with coronavirus, from financial and supply chain planning to advice on staffing issues. We would advise Tourism businesses and stakeholders in Wales wanting specific guidance to visit the Business Wales website or call Business Wales helpline on 03000 6 03000, and to regularly visit the Public Health Wales website for up-to-date public health information for you, your staff and your visitors.
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