LOCKDOWN restrictions remain across Wales as Covid-19 continues to take a hold in communities.

However the First Minister has said there may be room for ‘marginal easements’ if rates continue to fall.

Wales was plunged into alert level four, the highest level of restrictions, on December 20 when all non-essential retail and businesses were forced to close and people told to stay at home.

On January 8, it was announced restrictions would remain in place for a further three-weeks unless there was a ‘significant reduction’ in Covid cases and schools and colleges would remain closed for face-to-face learning.

At the Welsh Government press conference on January 15, First Minister Mark Drakeford said: “We are definitely seeing progress being made but some of those figures will not move as quickly.”

He said there will be a lag in hospital admissions.

However, Mr Drakeford said it was important to remember that even within alert levels, it is ‘possible to make some adjustments’.

He added: “Even if you are not able to go from Level 4 to Level 3, within Level 4 it may, and I really want to stress it is a may, to have some marginal easements and that would demonstrate to people that the efforts they are making are making a difference.”

As of Friday, January 15, a total of 177,864 people have been confirmed as having the virus since recording began.

Mr Drakeford said if things over the next two-weeks head in ‘the right directions’ then cabinet will decide if there is any ‘headroom to lessen restrictions’.

He said they would have to be certain that any improvement is reliable and sustainable before lifting restrictions.

When asked about schools, he said it was committed they would work to put measures in place to allow return of greater numbers of young people as ‘quickly and as safely as possible’.

The First Minister did say we are ‘not a long way off’ from easing some of the lockdown measures as we are ‘seeing progress being made’.

However, some restrictions will have to remain such as social distancing and the washing of hands which will be in place well into the calendar year as the ‘vaccine itself is not sufficient enough’ to allow us to go back to ‘normal’.

When asked how far down the vaccination list Wales needed to be for lockdown to be lifted, he said vaccination does play a part, but ‘challenging choices’ will need to be made in terms of what freedoms can be restored after a vaccine.

He added that he ‘fears’ the way it is talked about on social media that it may lead people to think you can return to normal after a vaccine,

But even those who are vaccinated ‘still have to play their part’ whilst the virus is ‘still at large’ in the community.

Mr Drakeford did however say it was not all bad news as we are ‘starting to see improvements’, but things can quickly get worse if we let out guard down.

He gave the example of Ireland which had the lowest rates in Europe, but within just three-weeks it had ‘moved dramatically’ and the rates are now the highest in the world.

The First Minister was asked about why rates in Wrexham and Flintshire remain so high and he said this is down to a number of things.

He said there have been falls in positivity rate in Flintshire and Wrexham in latest figures, so there are signs of improvement but some reasons include the new variant being ‘well established’ and permeability of the border.

In Liverpool, rates are over 1,000 per 100,000 he said and when you have a population who live close and people cross border for work, he said it is probably fair to speculate this is having an issue.