WALES will not be coming out of lockdown in the near future, health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed yesterday.

Giving an update of the coronavirus situation in Wales, Mr Gething said that despite figures showing improvement, the headroom the Welsh Government has for loosening restrictions is “still limited.”

The health minister said the return of the youngest pupils to school would be the Welsh Government’s “first priority to make use of that headroom.”

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“The foundation phase up to Year 2 should be going back into our primary schools after half term,” he said.

“That's really good news for all of us, whether you have children in school or not.

“It shows the positive perspective that we’re able to make a step forward in returning to unlocking some of those areas of activity.”

Mr Gething refused to be drawn on when further easing of lockdown measures could come into place.

The next review of the restrictions is due on February 19 - before pupils return to the classroom - with the following reviews due on March 12 and April 2.

The Welsh Government's Coronavirus Control Plan, published in December, laid out the criteria for moving between the tier levels.

To move into level three - out of lockdown - it said the rolling seven-day case rate must be between 150 and 300 per 100,000 people.

Currently that figure is at 116.4 across the whole of Wales - for the week up to February 3 - with almost all of Wales recording case rates equivalent to what would be needed to move into alert level two. Only Flintshire (231.9), Wrexham (229.5) and Anglesey (177) recorded case rates in the level three bracket.

The positivity rate, which according to the Coronavirus Control Plan needs to be between five and 10 per cent, currently stands at 9.8 per cent, and the R number currently stands at between 0.7 and 0.9, Mr Gething said.

The confirmed case rates for over 60s must not be suggesting rapid growth to move down to tier three, and the projection of future case incidence rates over the following two weeks should not anticipate significant rises. The forecast of the amount of the population in Wales estimated to have coronavirus has to be between 0.75 per cent and one per cent to move to alert level three, while hospital capacity concerns will also be considered.

“There are encouraging signs that the number of people needing hospital treatment for coronavirus is starting to fall,” said the health minister.

“The number of people with confirmed coronavirus in our hospitals is at the lowest number since November 8 and we've also seen a reduction in the number of people with coronavirus who need intensive care.

“Even with the good news in reducing hospital admissions, we're actually still at about 123 per cent of our critical care capacity.

“The headroom we have is still limited. That's why will take a measured managed and cautious approach as we do, I hope, take further steps out of the extraordinary control measures we've had to introduce to keep well safe.”