Half a million in north Wales added to lockdown - BBC News

Four councils in north Wales are to go into local lockdown in a bid to tackle the spread of Covid-19.

Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham will face the same restrictions as those in place in most of south Wales.

The lockdown measures for the north Wales council areas will come into effect at 18:00 BST on Thursday.

Vaughan Gething, Wales' health minister, made the announcement in the Welsh Parliament on Tuesday evening.

He said there was a similar pattern of transmission in the four north Wales counties as had been seen in the south, but rates in neighbouring Gwynedd and Anglesey currently "remain low".

Travel to and from the areas will not be permitted unless people have a "reasonable excuse", such as work or for buying essentials.

It will be illegal to meet others indoors who are not within your immediate household.

Tuesday's announcement means 504,956 more people will be added to local lockdowns, with a total of 2.3 million people under tougher restrictions than at the start of September.

The announcement follows a meeting between Mr Gething, First Minister Mark Drakeford and council leaders, police and public health experts.

Mr Gething said: "Large parts of Wales will now be subject to local restrictions but I want to be clear - this is not a national lockdown.

"These are a series of local restrictions to respond to rises in cases in individual areas."

Covid-19 case rate changes in north Wales

Cases per 100,000 people, seven day rolling average

Conwy has seen 42.7 cases per 100,000 people in the latest week, while the equivalent figure for Denbighshire was 41.8.

In Flintshire it was 45.5, and Wrexham it is 33.1.

The worst in Wales is in Blaenau Gwent which has a rate of 307.7 per 100,000 over seven days.

In the south, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and the Vale of Glamorgan are all subject to restrictions.

The town of Llanelli is also under local lockdown rules.

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2020-09-29 17:57:15Z
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