Cardiff and Swansea will go into lockdown at 6pm on Sunday, September 24, just hours after the Carmarthenshire town of Llanelli. Cardiff, Swansea and Llanelli hold 1.5million Welsh people, meaning that half of the population will find themselves under lockdown by the end of the weekend. The good news is that cases in Caerphilly, the first area to go into lockdown in Wales, have fallen significantly according to Health Minister Vaughan Gething.
What are the lockdown rules in Cardiff?
Tough new rules are being brought into Cardiff after a spike in coronavirus infections in recent weeks.
The new rules mean from 6pm on Sunday, people living in the affected areas will be banned from entering or leaving the cities except for essential reasons.
Essential reasons include shopping for food and other similar items and going to work, but people can’t leave to go on holiday.
In addition, residents will no longer be able to meet indoors with people they don’t live with, including friends and family members who are part of the extended household.
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Large parts of Wales were already living under lockdown restrictions thanks to increasing cases of COVID-19.
The south of the country is currently affected more than the north, but in general, cases are on the rise everywhere.
Mr Gething told a press briefing 108 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus in Wales.
This is a 300 percent increase compared to two weeks ago but still comes in at 90 percent lower than the peak in April and May.
Yesterday, there were 348 new cases confirmed in Wales alone.
Students expected to begin courses in Cardiff and Swansea in the coming days and weeks are allowed to travel, Mr Gething confirmed.
The Health Minister added: “Coming for work or education is a reasonable excuse for travel and so students will be arriving, many of them are here already of course in their chosen university towns and cities.
“The message to students is to be responsible, to familiarise themselves with the local rules.”
