FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford will today get the 'meeting' with Boris Johnson that he has long been calling for, to discuss the coronavirus crisis.

The Prime Minister will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee - including the leaders of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland later, ahead of a televised address at 8pm.

Mr Drakeford said only last Friday that Mr Johnson had not spoken to him for nearly four months - since a brief telephone call on May 28 - a situation he described as "simply unacceptable" given the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic.

He wants better communications to be established between the UK Government and the three devolved governments in regard to the deepening crisis.

Mr Johnson is expected to order pubs, bars and restaurants in England to close by 10pm each night from Thursday September 24, as part of tougher restrictions aimed at curbing the rapid rise in coronavirus cases.

It remains to be seen whether some or all of the measures he announces tonight will be adopted in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, given that the devolved governments have all developed differing ways of attempting to control the spread of the virus.

Local lockdowns are due to start in Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Bridgend at 6pm this evening - these areas joining Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The restrictions being imposed in Newport and the other areas are uniform - the current Caerphilly rules are being tweaked to fall in line with the others - so it may be risking confusion to, for instance, introduce a 10pm closing time for pubs and restaurants in Wales when an 11pm one is set to be imposed in local lockdown areas.

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But there is a feeling in Westminster that far more needs to be done, short of returning to the grim days of hard lockdown introduced in March, to try to halt the growth in cases which is beginning to result in increased coronavirus hospital admissions across Britain.

The Prime Minister is expected tonight to announce measures such as restricting pubs and the wider hospitality sector to table service only.

He is also expected to rein back on his recent urgings for people to get back to the office, by saying they should work from home where it does not hurt businesses.

The latter issue is another example of how the approach to coronavirus differs in Wales compared to England. The Welsh Government continues to support the work-from-home approach where possible.

A further delay to trials of fans returning to professional sports events is expected to be announced too by Mr Johnson, and the closure of indoor concert venues is set to continue.

The UK's four chief medical officers - which include Dr Frank Atherton in Wales - have recommended raising the Covid-19 alert level from three to four - the second highest. This indicates that the "epidemic is in general circulation; transmission is high or rising exponentially".