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Prime Minister Mark Drakeford says he is considering implementing a two-week circuit breaker lockout across Wales.
Drakeford also demanded urgent talks with the prime minister after it emerged that the number 10 rejected the recommendations for the measure from SAGE scientists three weeks ago.
Speaking to John Pienaar on Times Radio, Drakeford said his party would consider the measures in Wales.
He said: “We are very actively thinking here in Wales whether or not we should implement such a short and acute intervention to help us give ourselves a better chance later in the winter to deal with the rise of a virus here in Wales.
(Image: WalesOnline / Rob Browne)
“There are some very practical things we all have to think about. What would the circuit breaker measurements be? How long would they have to last?
“What would be the impact on schools? What would be the outlook for people coming out of such a short period and we are working hard on that detail here in the Welsh government this afternoon.”
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Drakeford also said: “We should collectively discuss which circuit breaker options might best serve to control the virus – and the R number – across the UK.
(Image: NurPhoto / PA Images)
(Image: Getty Images)
“Therefore, I again request that you urgently convene a new meeting of COBR (M) specifically to discuss the switch measures.”
He also said he wanted the message to spread that people traveling from high-risk areas for coronavirus in England are not welcome in Wales.
“There will be no one stationed at the border, there will be no physical barriers of any kind. They will be a powerful message to the people: they must not enter Wales into low incidence areas …
(Image: WalesOnline / Rob Browne)
“I need a rule in the regulations. And then we can enforce it properly. And I’m a little puzzled why the Prime Minister is prepared to rely on a guide that cannot be enforced, when he could just put it in the regulations like we have. made in Wales, and then its application becomes simple
Today, Keir Starmer put more pressure on No. 10 after he also backed calls for a breaker lockout in a bid to reduce coronavirus infection rates.
He said a two- to three-week national lockdown was needed for the middle of the period to improve testing and tracking and avoid “sleepwalking into a long, bleak winter.”
He told a televised news conference that Johnson “was no longer following scientific advice” by proposing “much less strict restrictions” than those suggested by SAGE.
Mr Starmer said: “There is no time to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt. The Government’s plan is simply not working. Another path is needed.”
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