Covid shutdown: three other counties in Wales face local restrictions

Three more counties will be put under local lockdown on Monday, the Government of Wales announced.

Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen, and Vale of Glamorgan will all have stricter Covid-19 restrictions starting at 18:00 BST on Monday.

It means that half of Wales’ 22 local authority areas will be under local lockdown, as the rules will go into effect in Cardiff and Swansea later on Sunday.

Almost two million people in Wales, two-thirds of the population, will be under local lockdown.

Vale of Glamorgan council leader Neil Moore said it had not been an easy decision, but noted that the infection rate rises to 34.4 people per 100,000 in the county district.

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“Today we have made a decision for early and preventive action,” he said.

“One of the main reasons for this is that the sooner we stop the increase in transmission, the sooner the restrictions can be lifted.

“Now we must all work together to make that possible.”

Blaenau Gwent at 202 per 100,000 and Merthyr Tydfil at 169 per 100,000 currently have the highest rates of infection.

Neath Port Talbot Council Leader Rob Jones said: “These restrictions are in place to protect public health, to protect you and your loved ones, and to prevent people from dying.”

“Rates are much higher in the local authority areas that border our county township, but now we are seeing increased rates here at Neath Port Talbot.

“We need everyone’s help at Neath Port Talbot to prevent the increasing spread of the coronavirus and reduce infection rates.”

Jones also urged people not to panic buying, adding: “There’s no need to worry about stocks running low.”

Welsh local lockdown rules mean that extended homes must end and people cannot leave or enter council boundaries without a reasonable excuse.

People can travel out of the area for a limited number of reasons.

These include going to work if they cannot work from home, going to school, caring for or buying food or medical supplies.

Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and Rhondda Cynon Taf are blocked, as is Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, which on Saturday became the first city to have restrictions imposed that do not apply to the county as a whole.

Cardiff and Swansea are locked out at 18:00 BST on Sunday.

As of Monday night, nearly 1.9 million of Wales’ 3.1 million people will be subject to local coronavirus regulations.

Prime Minister Mark Drakeford said: “We are now taking more action and placing three more areas under local restrictions in South Wales – Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan – because we are seeing increasing rates in these three areas. They also share borders with areas of local authorities where rates are much higher.

“Introducing restrictions anywhere in Wales is always an incredibly difficult decision for us to make. But we are acting to protect people’s health and trying to break the chain of transmission and prevent the situation from getting worse.

“This is not a regional blockade, it is a series of local restrictions in each area of ​​local authority to respond to a specific increase in cases in each area, which have different and unique transmission chains.”

‘Regional blockade’

Conservative Welsh health spokesman Andrew RT Davies said: “The prime minister might not want it to be described as a ‘regional blockade’, but with two million people in the South Wales corridor now under some sort of restrictions, that it is, sadly, what it is. “

He called for a more specific approach, “local, not regional,” and said urgent financial support was needed for affected companies.