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The Welsh district of Rhondda Cynon Taf has entered a local lockdown after a “rapid increase” in coronavirus cases.
Health chiefs say people are not allowed to enter or leave the area without a reasonable excuse after the restrictions were enforced at 6 p.m.
Pubs, bars and restaurants will have to close at 11pm. M. And meetings with other people inside will not be allowed, even for extended homes.
Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “We have seen a rapid increase in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short time, linked to people who socialize indoors and do not follow social distancing guidelines.”
The county has the second highest coronavirus rate in Wales.
In the seven days until September 13, it went from 48.9 per 100,000 inhabitants to 104.0, with 251 new COVID-19 cases.
The highest rate is Caerphilly, where a localized lock was also introduced earlier this month.
There were some 216 new cases registered in the week ending September 13, the equivalent of 119.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.
In the Rhondda Cynon Taf village of Abercynon, a few miles from Pontypridd, the number of viruses has increased in recent days.
A ‘snowball’ was the phrase used by the South Wales city council leader and people are worried.
Gething said the shutdown came after two “major” clusters of COVID-19 cases in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.
He said one was associated with a rugby club and a pub.
And the other was linked to a group of men in their 40s and 50s who decided to rent a bus and drive to Doncaster for a day at the races.
Some of his friends tell me they didn’t “stop at a bunch of pubs on the way back and forth,” in contrast to what Public Health Wales said Wednesday.
Doncaster Racecourse said it had no ticket reservations for any groups from the South Wales area for last Wednesday’s pilot event.
The Welsh government later said that, although the group intended to go to the races, “the party did not enter the racecourse as originally planned.”
But since they returned to Rhondda Cynon Taf, the virus has exploded in this area.
They are now among 1,500 self-isolating residents in this county.
“I count some of them as my friends and they have been stupid,” a middle-aged man told me.
“We all have to follow the rules. That’s the only way this goes away.”
He added: “Some people have been selfish, they have had fun and now we will all pay the price.”
Abercynon business owners are worried and frustrated.
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Since the blockade was eased, they have slowly managed to get going again and fear what is to come.
“I’m upset, worried and yes, angry,” said a lady who runs a fruit and vegetable store.
The data that the Welsh government and its scientists are analyzing suggests that a second wave in Wales could peak at Christmas.
It has been a gloriously sunny day in the Welsh valleys, out of season. But it’s the coming winter that has everyone here under a cloud.
