Covid: Groups of 30 to be able to meet outdoors in Wales
Extended households can expand to include a third and up to 30 people will be able to meet outdoors from Monday, the Welsh government has said.
However an increase in the numbers able to meet indoors in homes or at events will not happen until at least late June.
The Welsh government said this would allow more people to get vaccinated.
It said there was "growing concern" about the spread of the variant first identified in India.
There are currently 97 cases of the variant in Wales, which has been named the Delta variant by the World Health Organization.
This is up 67% compared with last week.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "The risk of infection is significantly less outdoors than it is indoors. This is why we are phasing in the changes in this three-week cycle.
"This will allow more people to enjoy events outdoors and take advantage of the Welsh summer, while we continue to roll out the vaccination programme to all adults.
"We will review the public health situation again in a couple of weeks to see whether we can continue to relax the restrictions and restart indoor events."
Who can meet indoors in Wales?
The changes - described as a "phased" move to Wales' alert level one - will begin from Monday.
It means three households are able to meet indoors and have physical contact - but each household can only meet one other at a time.
A further household with a single adult, or single adult with caring responsibilities, will still be able to join extended households.
Further rule changes on indoor activity will be considered by the Welsh government before 21 June - when an ending to restrictions in England may happen.
Those could include allowing six people from different households to meet indoors in private homes and holiday accommodation and increasing the numbers able to go to organised indoor gatherings and indoor events.
Pubs and restaurants have been allowed to serve customers inside from 17 May, with six people from six different households allowed to sit together.
However, last month the Welsh Independent Restaurant Collective called for all significant restrictions to be lifted before July.
The group, representing more than 400 cafes, pubs, restaurants and hotels, urged the Welsh government to scrap the 2m social distancing rule.
'We will find solutions'
Sarah Hemsley-Cole, of campaign group WeMakeEvents Cymru, said the announcement was "great news" for everyone who worked in the industry, after being closed for so long during repeated lockdowns.
In recent weeks a series of test events have been held, with Tafwyl Festival having a 500 attendee limit, while the upcoming Wales v Albania match at Cardiff City Stadium is limited to 4,000 spectators.
Ms Hemsley-Cole said while they were happy with the Welsh government's "cautious" approach, the test events had been "incredibly restrictive" with some only being allowed 100 people and social distancing remaining in place.
She said the change would give more parity with England, adding "ultimately, most people don't realise there's a difference", especially in sport where it is cross-border.
But she added that the 2m social-distancing rule remaining in place was a "challenge" for outdoor events, and it was difficult to maintain when people were having fun.
"The reality is, as long as there is social distancing, that is a challenge for the sector... it's a real challenge to make things work, and people sort of forget they have to maintain it," she said.
"We understand it is there to make us safe, we will find solutions and a way to make it work."
'We've moved 41 weddings'
However Bre Carrington-Sykes, who runs Pentre Mawr Country House wedding venue in Llandyrnog, Vale of Clwyd, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast she was "very disappointed".
"You can have 300 people on an airplane yet most of our weddings are outdoor events and 30 is just ridiculous," she said.
"The idea that you can have thousands of people social-distancing at an event is crazy.
"We've had 15 months of no income. We're one of the lucky ones we can afford it, but I don't know how much longer we can afford it for. We've already moved 41 weddings in the last year."
How many people have been vaccinated in Wales?
Wales has the highest vaccination rate in the UK, with 2,161,028 people having been given a first vaccine dose, or 68.5%.
Figures also show 1,157,904 people have now had a second jab, or 36.7% of the population of Wales.
The case rate in Wales is currently 7.5 per 100,000 people over seven days.
A cluster of cases, attributed to the Delta variant, has been responsible for a spike in Conwy county, taking the case rate there to 22.
There are now 35 cases of the variant in the Llandudno, Llandudno Junction and Penrhyn Bay area, with Health Minister Eluned Morgan saying she was "very concerned".
The whole of Wales has reported 34 new positive tests a day on average in the past seven days.
That compares with 49 cases a day a month ago and 2,864 cases a day at the peak in December.
June 04, 2021 at 06:15PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57346925
Labels: BBC News
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