Covid Passes and masks on agenda for next Wales rules review

Welsh Government ministers will meet on Thursday to review the national rules, and first minister Mark Drakeford will give a press conference at lunchtime on Friday.

Wales has been at Alert Level Zero since late January – but despite the wording, some restrictions remain in force.

At the last rule review, Mr Drakeford said his cabinet would make a decision on whether to lift regulations on things like Covid Passes and face coverings at their next meeting, due this Thursday.

Masks

Both Mr Drakeford and health minister Eluned Morgan have confirmed the rules on mask-wearing will be one of the things the Welsh Government considers at this week's review.

But even if the rules are relaxed, it would be a pandemic-first if masks are scrapped in Wales altogether. During previous periods in Alert Level Zero – such as last summer and autumn – masks were still required on public transport and in some indoor places.

First minister Mark Drakeford puts on a face covering outside the Senedd building. Picture: Huw Evans Picture Agency

The first minister thinks many people will continue wearing masks even if there is no legal requirement for them to do so.

"If the advice is that things are so good that you don't need them, we'd respond to that advice," he said at the time of the last Covid review. 

"I think there will be many people that on an advisory basis, might find themselves in crowded public places and choose to go on wearing masks, as they will feel safer for it."

Covid Passes

Currently, people visiting nightclubs and larger events in Wales have to show this document, either proving they've been fully vaccinated or recently tested negative for Covid.

Composite image showing a mock-up Covid Pass on a phone. Original pictures: Pexels

Mr Drakeford and Ms Morgan have also confirmed they will review the ongoing need for the Covid Pass scheme this week, however.

"If things continue to improve then there would be an active debate on whether the Covid Pass is still a proportionate part of the measure that we want to have in place," the first minister said at the last review on January 21. 

"We'll keep doing what we always do – we'll look at the measures, we'll ask for advice on whether the Covid Pass is still part of our defences, and if the answer is 'yes' we'll continue with it. 

"If things have improved to the point when it's no longer part of necessary measures then we'll respond to that advice as well."

The scheme kicked off in controversial style last autumn when one Senedd member failed to vote, allowing the Welsh Government to bring in Covid Passes by the slimmest of margins.

Since then, their use has been extended to other venues like cinemas and theatres.

Scrapping Covid Passes this week could make things a lot more convenient for people attending Wales' home matches in the Six Nations rugby tournament, the first of which is on Saturday. 

Freedom Day?

Despite the first minister's plans to review the remaining rules, he has also said he would avoid setting a date for all restrictions to be lifted.

Since March 2020, terms like "freedom day" have featured regularly in the UK tabloids as Boris Johnson laid out timetables to ease England's Covid rules.

Newport's city centre was nearly empty on New Year's Eve due to the restrictions on hospitality. Picture: Ollie Barnes

But Mr Drakeford has consistently done things differently here and refused to copy England's approach, believing his more "careful and cautious" response to the pandemic has been right for Wales and better received by the public.

This was clear during the recent wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant: England adopted the Covid Pass scheme and stronger mask-wearing guidance, but did not reintroduce wider restrictions on hospitality venues that we saw here in Wales.

Just three weeks into the new year, the Welsh Government said it would ease most of the measures it had announced just before Christmas, and we returned to Alert Level Zero on January 28.