Cardiff and Swansea Brace for Today’s 6 pm Lockdown

More than 1.5 million people in Wales’ two biggest cities are braced for lockdown which starts at 6 pm today.

The news was announced by health minister Vaughan Gething at the Welsh Government coronavirus briefing on Friday, September 25. Over the past seven days, Cardiff reached a test positivity rate of 4.6%, exceeding the Welsh Government’s “amber” threshold of 2.5% – part of its “traffic light roadmap” strategy for managing the pandemic.

Changes in status of Cardiff and Swansea will take the total number of Welsh local authority areas under heightened COVID restrictions to eight. It follows the first localised lockdown in Wales, in the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, which came into force on Saturday evening.

It means 1.5 million people – about half of Wales’ population – will be under lockdown by 18:00 BST- 19:00 in mainland Spain- on Sunday. The restrictions will be the same as those affecting people living in Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Caerphilly, which are already in lockdown.

Over the past week, Cardiff reached a test positivity rate of 4.6%, exceeding the Welsh Government’s “amber” threshold of 2.5% – part of its “traffic light roadmap” strategy for managing the pandemic.

When asked if Wales could see a national lockdown, First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “We couldn’t possibly rule it out. We’re trying to do it in a way that balances both the health and the economic needs of Wales.”

Swansea hit a seven-day rate of 56 new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 on Friday, while Cardiff reached 38 cases per 100,000. However, the number in Llanelli was 152 cases per 100,000 – which is why the Welsh Government decided to bring in restrictions there a day earlier.

The areas subject to the new restrictions are Bigyn, Bynea, Dafen, Elli ward, Felinfoel, Glanymor, Hendy, Hengoed, Llanegennech, Lliedi, Llwynhendy, Tyisha, and Swiss Valley.

The Welsh government caused an uproar among drinkers when it announced pubs should close at 10 pm this week.

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Written by

Tony Winterburn

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