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The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has published a framework to help determine when Wales will begin to relax lockdown restrictions and learn to “live and work alongside coronavirus”.
The move echoes similar steps taken by the Scottish government on Thursday, when the first minister Nicola Sturgeon published her government’s planning for moving beyond current restrictions there and accepting the new normal of living and working alongside Covid-19.
Related: Scots must accept life alongside Covid-19 as new normal – Sturgeon
Coronavirus is not going to disappear – it is likely it will be with us for a long time. We will need to have some sort of restrictions in place for some time yet to continue to control the spread of the virus and reduce community transmission. This framework will help us determine what is right for Wales.
There is a long road ahead of us towards recovery to pre-pandemic levels, but if we continue to work together, I hope we will be able to make changes to the restrictions and see a gradual return to something resembling normal life.
Action to ease the lockdown restrictions will need to be supported by a comprehensive public health response, which will need to developed quickly and at scale.
We are now working towards a new recovery phase to lead us out of the pandemic but only when the conditions are right.
The number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Scotland is 9,697, an increase of 288, the first minister Nicola Sturgeon told reporters at her daily briefing.
She added that reductions in numbers in hospital and intensive care give “real and growing cause of optimism” – there were 1,710 people in hospital as a result of coronavirus, a decrease of 38, and 141 in intensive care, a decrease of 7.
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