Wales to publish Covid-19 lockdown exit road map
Wales’s road map for exiting the coronavirus lockdown is to be published by the end of the week, the first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford told Members of the Senedd the plan was “still being worked on” and needed to be “readily understood by the readership of the Welsh public”.
He was answering questions from Conservative MS Paul Davies, leader of the opposition, on whether scientific advice underpinning the road map would be published by the Welsh Government.
Mr Drakeford told a session of the plenary: “I’m very glad that we are publishing the scientific and technical advice.
“I agree entirely with Paul Davies that it’s important that the public is able to see the underpinning evidence that we draw on in making these challenging decisions.
“My hope is that we will be able to make our plan for exit, as he called it, public on Friday of this week.
“It is being worked on still. I want it to be clear and I want it to be capable of being readily understood by the readership of the Welsh public.
“So, that is my ambition – that we will publish it on Friday and do it in a way that does the job that Paul Davies referred to: helping our fellow citizens in Wales to be clear about the plans of the Welsh Government and to understand the basis on which they are being drawn up.”
Mr Drakeford was also questioned about the “confusion” surrounding the lockdown regulations in Wales.
“Here in Wales, we are encouraging people to stay home,” Mr Drakeford said.
“That is the best way in which we can help one another to overcome this crisis. That’s why we’re all making the sacrifices that we are.
“But people are allowed now to leave their homes more than once a day for exercise, and if your way of taking exercise is to walk from your home to a river and to sit there, not near other people, and to go fishing then that is allowed within the rules in Wales.
“But it must be local and it must be done in a way that observes social distancing.”
He added: “The question that people in Wales need to ask themselves is: is my journey away from my own front door necessary?
“If it’s necessary, then you’re allowed to do it within the terms of our regulations.
“But the best advice to us all is to minimise the amount of contact we have with other people, because that way, the circulation of the virus can be suppressed and we can all go on providing to the safety of ourselves and to the safety of others.”
Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government believed in a “four-nation” approach in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
“We think we’ve still got a four-nation approach because all four parts of the UK are moving in the same direction in the same careful and cautious way,” he added.
