ALL options are on the table in terms of reintroducing a national lockdown in Wales - and stricter measures could be introduced as early as this week - health minister Vaughan Gething has said.

Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff, Mr Gething said he was concerned levels of coronavirus in Wales could soon be matching those that we saw earlier in the year.

"The virus is now present and spreading in every part of Wales," he said. "The all-Wales rate is now more than 100 cases per 100,000 population.

READ MORE:

"I do not want to scare people, but I do want people to understand that we potentially face a very difficult few months ahead of us.

"We are considering all measures, whether we maintain local restrictions or whether we move to a national picture and what that national picture might be."

Mr Gething referenced the two-week 'fire-break' or 'circuit-break' measures being taken in Scotland, and did not rule out similar measures being introduced in Wales.

"We need to understand what might be required, and what we might need to do, not just at that period of time but also afterwards," he said.

"We are continuing to have those discussions here in Wales with our scientific advisor and the Chief Medical Officer's department.

"In Wales, I think this will be a particularly important week as we look to not just have conversations, but we will then need to make decisions through the rest of this week."

Mr Gething said these actions would have to be taken as he was concerned the current measures would not be sufficient to get through winter.

"The measures we have put in place at both a local and national level have helped us to keep the spread of the virus in check," he said. "However, there is growing concern these will not be enough to help see us through the winter because the virus is spreading so quickly.

"We could see coronavirus cases reach the same levels as the Spring peak in the next couple of weeks."

Mr Gething was also asked about whether there would be a return of shielding for vulnerable people.

"We understand some of the protection shielding gave people, but it came at a cost," he said, citing issues of loneliness and isolation.

But the minister added that many groups of people who were not on the shielding list had been disproportionately affected by coronavirus, such as the BAME community, people who are obese, and people living in lower-income areas.