Coronavirus: Wales publishes exit plan out of lockdown using ‘traffic light system’

‘Until there is a vaccine or effective treatments, we will have to live with the disease in our society,’ says Welsh first minister

Wales has unveiled its ‘roadmap’ for the country’s exit from lockdown, using a traffic light system to define which areas of public life will gradually be eased back into normality as the UK starts to attempt releasing itself from the grip of the coronavirus crisis.

The plan is part of a “cautious, coherent” approach to easing the lockdown and marks a firmer divide from the approach for England outlined by the prime minister last Sunday.

Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said people in Wales will have to stick to lockdown advice to “Stay Home, Protect our NHS and Save Lives” for at least the next two weeks before the government starts to move into the next phase of the roadmap.

The phased approach has three “zones”. The red zone will not be “very different to lockdown but it will be a cautious first step”, the first minister told Sky News on Friday, as he explained the exit plan will not be given a time frame for when the country could expect to see any changes.

Under lockdown, schools will remain closed except for vulnerable children and children of key workers, and members of the public are to work from home if possible and not to leave their homes except for essentials.

When Wales moves into the red zone, local travel will be allowed, including for click-and-collect retail, and people will be allowed to provide or receive care and support to or from one family member or friend outside of their own household.

The amber zone involves “priority groups of pupils” being allowed to return to school in stages, and people can travel for leisure with small groups of family or friends for exercise. Non-essential retail and services will be allowed to resume, and the government aims to get more people travelling to work by this stage.

The final green zone will allow all children and students to go back to school and access education. Unrestricted travel will be allowed, but will be subject to ongoing precautions, and all sports, leisure and cultural activities with friends will be permitted as long as people undertake physical distancing.

However, decisions on moving the country into the different phases of the roadmap “will need to be made on prioritisation”.

“It is quite possible that Wales will be on ‘red’ for one type of activities, ‘amber’ for another and still in lockdown for a third,” said the government release.

Mr Drakeford said: “Over the last eight weeks, we have seen an incredible effort, from all parts of our society, to respond to the unprecedented challenge to our way of life posed by the Covid-19 virus.

“As a result, we, like countries across the world, are able to think about how we can move out of lockdown. But it is essential that we recognise this is not a short-term crisis. Until there is a vaccine or effective treatment, we will have to live with the disease in our society and to try to control its spread and mitigate its effects.

“The challenges we face are shared with all parts of the United Kingdom. For that reason, we have always supported a four-nation approach to the lifting of the lockdown.

“But this has to respect the responsibilities of each government to determine the speed at which it is safe to move and the balance to be struck between different forms of ‘easement’ ⁠– how to prioritise between allowing people to meet up with close family, to go shopping or to the hairdresser, to get back to work or visit the seaside,” he added.

The Welsh government’s roadmap comes as Boris Johnson’s official spokesman confirmed some elements of the lockdown could be eased at different rates in different parts of the UK.

The Recovery Strategy document, which was released by the government on Monday, states the authorities would be responsive to emerging data on local infection rates when implementing the exit plan.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman said: “It could lead to some of the measures being eased at different rates in different parts of the country. At the same time, it could lead to some measures being re-imposed in some parts of the country and not in others.”