First Minister Mark Drakeford will announce a 4-week pause to the coronavirus rules on Friday (June 18) to help boost protection against the new delta variant.
The Welsh Government reviewed the public health situation this week, mid-way through the current three-week regulations cycle, after announcing a phased move into alert level one. The rules around larger outdoor activities and events were relaxed on June 7.
While WG will not be making any substantive changes to the rules, they are making some minor and technical amendments to the coronavirus regulations to make them easier to understand and easier to apply for businesses.WG will amend the regulations so from Monday 21 June:
- The number of people who can attend a wedding or civil partnership reception or wake, organised by a business in an indoors regulated premises, such as an hotel, will be determined by the size of the venue and a risk assessment.
- And exception to the events restrictions will be made to clarify that small “grassroots” entertainment, such as music and comedy venues, which may otherwise be caught by those restrictions, are not prevented from operating at alert level two and lower.
- Primary school children will be able to stay overnight in a residential outdoor education centre. Guidance will set out that groups should be limited to school contact groups or bubbles. We will work with the sector to consider options for the summer.
- Regulation 16 on taking reasonable measures is being updated to reflect the latest evidence on the hierarchy of risk, including incorporating ventilation as an important mitigation and to clarify rules around 2m distancing for groups of six people in regulated premises or outdoors.
Pilot events in theatre, sport and other sectors will also continue throughout June and July.