Coronavirus: Rhondda Cynon Taff will enter lockdown

A second county in Wales will go into lockdown due to the rate of coronavirus cases.

The 240,000 people who live in Rhondda Cynon Taff will have restrictions imposed on their daily lives.

Starting at 18:00 BST on Thursday, people will not be able to enter or leave the area without a reasonable excuse, such as traveling for work or education.

All licensed locations must close at 11:00 PM each day, once the closure goes into effect.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said there had been a “rapid” increase in cases, with 82.1 infections per 100,000 people over the past seven days.

The last equivalent figure for all of Wales is 21.4 per 100,000.

It is the second home block in Wales, after Caerphilly came under restrictions last week.

Tuesday’s positive test rate at RCT was 4.3%, the highest in Wales. Gething previously warned that a positive rate of 4% in Wales would trigger a national lockdown.

Contact tracing teams had been able to trace roughly half of the coronavirus cases in RCT “to a number of groups within the municipality,” he said.

“The rest are evidence of community transmission.”

One group is associated with a rugby club and pub in the lower Rhondda Valley, another is connected with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which the minister said stopped at a number of pubs along the way .

A review of the lockdown will take place within two weeks.

Under lockdown rules, no one may leave or enter the county without a reasonable excuse.

The list of excuses to travel is the same as seen in Caerphilly, including:

• For the essentials: food and medicine
• For work, if you cannot work from home
• Obtain supplies for essential home maintenance, maintenance and operation.
• To provide or receive emergency assistance
• To comply with a legal obligation and to access or receive public services

Motorists will be able to drive through the county township as long as they don’t stop.