Non-essential items closed off in supermarkets ahead of Christmas

The abrupt closure of these businesses, with just hours notice given before they were closed, led to many parents rushing out to shops to pick up presents before these shops closed.

Under the new restrictions, only essential businesses - including supermarkets - can stay open, although some items have been closed off in stores.

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On Sunday, some non-essential items, such as clothes, were closed to shoppers at the Newport Asda store, although the toy section was open.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: "The reason for this is broadly the same as why some shops are closed.

"To minimise contact with others, people should be doing everything they can to keep to a minimum the amount of times they leave home and the amount of time they are away.

The clothing section has been closed off in Asda in Newport.

"If the products you wish to buy are not essential and are not needed urgently, you should not be making a special trip out to buy them.

"You should either wait until alert level four restrictions are lifted or consider whether alternatives such as home delivery are available.

"It would also not be fair to allow supermarkets to sell all those products, which are sold by other retailers that have been required to close. As shops selling electrical goods, for example, have been required to close, supermarkets should not be able to sell the same products they sell.

"In exceptional circumstances shops that sell multiple types of product (such as supermarkets) can sell other products that are not on general sale at alert level four. Those products must be required in an emergency or on compassionate grounds.

"Individual stores will have their own processes for managing that, and you should make enquiries within the store as to how to access these products. You should also be aware that these shops do not have to sell these products to you."

Crates of alcohol were used to block off the clothing section in Asda in Newport.

Shops which cannot open under the new restrictions can still provide a click and collect service.

"However, you should remember that you may only leave home to make necessary purchases and you should limit your journeys as much as possible," said the Welsh Government spokesman.

The restrictions on selling alcohol mean shops must stop selling it from 10pm and cannot begin to sell alcohol again until 6am.

On the closures, they said: "For some shops, all or the large majority of sales they make will be of items that are not needed urgently.

"It does not make sense in those circumstances to allow those shops to remain open, and doing so might wrongly imply to people that they are allowed to leave home to go to them."