Welsh schools could reopen from 22 February under plan to ease lockdown
Wales has ‘grounds for optimism’, Mark Drakeford says
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Your support makes all the difference.Wales will remain under lockdown for a further three weeks, first minister Mark Drakeford will confirm on Friday as he sets out the possibility of primary schools reopening after the February break.
The coronavirus situation is "improving" in Wales, the Welsh government said, but three more weeks of Level 4 restrictions are needed to "allow the NHS to recover".
“There’s grounds for optimism in Wales at the moment,” Mr Drakeford told Sky News on Friday morning. “The number of people suffering from coronavirus is declining every day – not low enough, there’s further grounds to gain. The numbers in our hospitals are stubbornly high and just beginning to decline.”
He said continuing lockdown will allow the country to “build on the progress its made so far”.
Schools are the government’s top priority, Mr Drakeford told the broadcaster, adding that if there is “any headroom” after the next three weeks it will be used to begin a “phased and flexible return of our young people to face-to-face learning”.
“Children and young people have had an absolutely torrid time over the last 12 months", the first minister said, adding that the government is determined to prioritise them when it comes to lifting the lockdown.
He added that the government will be working with local education authorities and trade unions to plan for the return and that “it wouldn’t be every child by any means back in the classroom” but the process will be able to begin after the 22 February if the numbers continue to decline.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, the first minister said there was a "strong case" for bringing the youngest children back to the classroom as "they're not able to learn online and remotely" and the risk of them passing on the coronavirus was "the least of all". The phased school return could also include some students who had exams coming up, "particularly those where there are practical aspects of examinations or vocational qualifications".
The Welsh government said there could be a "phased and flexible return to school after February 22 if the public health situation continues to improve".
A statement from the Welsh government said: "Rates of coronavirus across Wales have fallen below 200 cases per 100,000 people for the first time since early November. And every day, thousands more people receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine – the latest figures show almost 11 per cent of the population have been vaccinated."
Earlier in the week, Mr Drakeford told the Senedd that the government has missed its target to vaccinate 70 per cent of over-80s by the end of the weekend. Only 52.8 per cent of that age band having received a dose. He said the lower vaccination figures were related to the heavy snowfall that caused some vaccination centres to shut on Sunday.
On Wednesday, chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton said relaxing the lockdown measures across the whole of Wales was “unlikely” until at least the end of February. Authorities review the situation every 21 days.
The reproduction R value for the virus on Wednesday was said to be between 0.7 and 0.9, while figures from Public Health Wales showed that the country's seven-day case rate had fallen from 270 cases per 100,000 on Friday to 204 cases per 100,000 people.
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