Coronavirus: Salons in Wales to close on 24 Dec as govt implements level 4 restrictions
By Helena Biggs | 16 December 2020 | Movers & Shakers, News
Wales’ first minister, Mark Drakeford, has today (16 December) announced that higher-level restrictions will come into force to control rapidly accelerating coronavirus rates across the country.
He confirmed that the current conditions mean that Wales has met the criteria in the traffic light Coronavirus Control Plan to move to alert level 4.
All non-essential retail, including close-contact services such as salons and hairdressers, and all leisure and fitness centres will close at the end of trading on Christmas Eve.
All hospitality premises will close from 6pm on Christmas Day and tighter restrictions on household mixing, staying-at-home, holiday accommodation and travel will apply from December 28, after the five-day Christmas period.
Drakeford comments: “We are seeing levels of coronavirus in some parts of the country that we haven’t experienced at any point before in this pandemic. This pandemic is putting our NHS under intense and sustained strain.
“There are more than 2,100 people with coronavirus symptoms in our hospitals – equivalent to five general hospitals fully occupied by people with coronavirus.
“This has been such a long and difficult year. We need to take this action to save lives and control the spread of this awful virus.”
The four UK governments met today to confirm the common arrangements for the five-day Christmas period. In Wales, the position will be that only 2 households should come together to form an exclusive Christmas bubble during that period.
A reopening or review date has not yet been specified.