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WALES is scheduled to be thrown into a two-week “circuit breaker” lockout and all pubs and shops will be forced to close starting Friday.
Prime Minister Mark Drakeford is expected to announce the drastic measures later today to try to prevent a massive increase in coronavirus infections.
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The draconian package of measures will mean that England will be the only part of the UK that will not have some kind of national “circuit breaker” blockade, as Boris Johnson angrily refuses to give in to pressure to shut down the country again.
According to a leaked letter from the transport industry in Wales, Drakeford is expected to announce a shutdown from 6pm this Friday until November 9.
The Welsh director of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, John Pockett, warned members that a shutdown starting at 6pm on Friday “would put us back in March.”
The tough measures will mimic those of the first penalty lockdown in March, with all retail outlets closed except essentials.
There were nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases in Wales, and hospital admissions were up 40 percent in the last week.
The Prime Minister alerted the Welsh that they could be subjected to tougher measures at the end of last week.
He said the minister would spend the weekend watching “very carefully” the introduction of a “limited time firewall” blockade to halt the increase in the number of cases.
Drakeford said: “This would be a short and sharp blow to the virus, which could turn back the clock, slow its spread and buy us more time and vital capacity in the health service.”
“A firewall would also mean, however, a short, sharp jolt for all of our lives.
“We would all have to stay home one more time, to save those lives. This time it would be for weeks, not months.”
Wales Circuit Breaker Rules
A NEW lockdown in Wales would act as a ‘firewall’ to turn back the clock and buy time to try to stop coronavirus cases. The Welsh were warned last week that they could be given stay-at-home orders again, but there is uncertainty as to whether schools would be forced to close due to the massive impact on children that would have more closures.
- Pubs and restaurants may be closed
- All non-essential retail could be forced to close the store
- Welsh May Receive New “Stay Home” Orders
- Won’t mix with other homes indoors or outdoors
- Don’t leave your local area
The Prime Minister warned last week that the shorter the lockdown “the sharper” the restrictions would have to be and people in Wales could find themselves living under “stay at home” orders once again.
And he put himself on a collision course with Johnson by saying that the Welsh border would be closed to people from the coronavirus hot spots in England.
Anyone who breaks the border ban would even be fined £ 50.
But the lawsuits fell through when the Police Federation of England and Wales said that “police in Wales are already overloaded due to the pandemic” and that it would be difficult to enforce the measures.
Northern Ireland and Scotland are in the midst of circuit breaker lockouts to try to overcome new coronavirus infections after the Sage government think tank provided support for brief national closures.
Scots are not allowed to drink alcohol in pubs and restaurants, which must close every day at 6pm.
But they have not been given the severe lockdown measures Drakeford is expected to impose today.
People in Northern Ireland also live by strict rules, with bars, schools and restaurants forced to close for four weeks.
The dramatic introduction of a “circuit breaker” in Wales would increase pressure on Johnson to introduce one in England.
Labor politicians, including Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Sir Keir Starmer, are demanding that the entire country be held under strict lockdown rules for two weeks.
But over the weekend, Labor leader Rachel Reeves admitted that England could face a series of lockdowns to stop new infections.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick roundly rejected a brief shutdown this morning.
He said: “The argument for a national circuit breaker is not one that I personally find convincing at all.
“This applies at a general level: the same approach in Nottingham, the city next to my constituency, where the number of cases currently exceeds 700, in Somerset or Herefordshire, where the number of cases per 100,000 is less than 40.
“I think the damage to the economy and to our overall health and well-being that a circuit disruption would cause would be very, very significant.
“So the government’s approach is a localized, proportionate and localized approach as long as there are such wide variations in infection.”
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