STRICTER rules for supermarkets are to be introduced in Wales to help prevent the spread of the new strain of coronavirus, the First Minister has announced.

Mark Drakeford said regulations would be 'strengthened' to make sure retailers offer sanitisers for hands and trolleys, limit the numbers of people inside stores, and ensure people keep their distance from others.

These measures which were guidance, will now become the law.

The new rules announced on Friday are part of a package of measures introduced following concerns that a faster spreading variant of Covid-19 is behind a spike of transmissions across the country.

At the Welsh Government press conference, Mark Drakeford said retailers will need signs to be visible, must have sanitiser available for hands and trollies and they must have systems to limit the numbers of customers in store.

It will also include tannoy announcements and markers on floors, everything that is visible to ensure measures are in place.

Mr Drakeford said on workplaces generally, it will be a legal requirement for all businesses with five or more employees to carry out a coronavirus risk assessment.

They include things like making sure there is adequate ventilation, making sure people are physically distancing and using PPE, and to consider whether their employees can work from home.

Mr Drakeford said the risk assessments must be reviewed and updated regularly by law even when Wales moves down from its current Alert Level 4.

When talking about the science behind the decision, Mr Drakeford said there was ‘significant evidence’ which can be seen in TAC (Technical Advisory Cell) reports and TTP (Track Trace Protect) analysis.

He added there are risks when people go to supermarkets but stressed they were not ‘dangerous places’.

The First Minister said the tightening of the rules was to give confidence to staff and customers that the more visible elements return.

The First Minister said TTP has seen customers and staff testing positive from supermarkets as patterns change, so supermarkets and workplaces are one of the few places people do meet at the moment.

The patterns depend on how people behave in the community, but he also paid tribute to the ‘brave staff’ who have provided essential services throughout the pandemic.

Concerns were raised over whether staff in supermarkets should police these new legislation's which could increase abuse.

He said it is up to owners and managers of businesses and the new rules are all things managers can ensure are in place.

He added it is utterly ‘unacceptable’ that retail staff who have ‘done so much’ should face abuse, but none of this is designed to put those people at a ‘greater risk’.

When asked why these measures were only guidance and not make law months ago, he said anywhere people meet, there is an increased risk of transmission.

At the press conference, Mr Drakeford said supermarkets have had an obligation in guidance since the start but what he is responding to now, is the visible sense that measures were not there in the same way they previously were.

He said back in April, supermarkets had someone at the door checking the number of customers, ensuring mask wearing and pointing you to where the hand sanitiser was as well as markings on the floor and announcements on the tannoy,

All of that is in the guidance but there is evidence those are not always there in a visible way so putting them into the regulations will give everyone ‘greater degrees of confidence’.

Supermarkets are one of the few places people can meet and he has urged shoppers to visit stores less frequently to avoid that risk.

He added that supermarkets are ‘very unhappy’ when enforcement action is taken and reputation ‘does matter to supermarket chains’.

The First Minister went on to say supermarkets ‘do not like it’ when one of their stores become known in the community as ‘falling below’ the standards and so there is ‘peer pressure’ amongst supermarket chains.