(Title Image: Murgatroyd49 via Wikipedia under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-4.0)
Caerphilly county will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm tonight (8th September 2020).
In the last few days, the infection rate in Caerphilly county rose to 55.4 infections-per-100,000 people – significantly higher than the rest of Wales.
The local lockdown will mean:
- Nobody should enter or leave Caerphilly county without a reasonable excuse (as during the previous lockdown this means for work if they can’t work from home or to look after a vulnerable person).
- All people aged 11 and over will be required to wear facemasks in shops.
- People will only be allowed to meet each other outdoors; indoor meetings and overnight stays will not be allowed.
There are no plans yet to close schools, pubs/restaurants or to limit visits to care homes.
Plaid Cymru repeated calls for mandatory wearing of facemasks in shops across the whole of Wales.
While death rates from Covid-19 remain low, there’s been a noted increase in positive tests over the last few weeks amongst younger age groups, while several schools across Wales have been impacted as the 2020-21 academic year starts.
The increase in cases is thought to be down to the public failing to observe social distancing restrictions when socialising indoors as well as a result of taking foreign holidays.
There’s seemingly no time limit to the restrictions, with the Welsh Government keeping the situation under review and not ruling out additional measures.
Health Minister, Vaughan Gething (Lab, Cardiff S. & Penarth) said: “We need the help of everyone in Caerphilly to prevent the increasing and onward spread of coronavirus. We can only bring this local outbreak under control if everyone pulls together and follows these new steps. If we do not see cases falling, we may need to take further steps to bring this local outbreak under control.”
