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Covid lockdown for Newport, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent

Four more counties in south Wales will go into lockdown from 18:00 BST on Tuesday, meaning more than a quarter of the Welsh population will be under tighter restrictions.

Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent and Newport follow Rhondda Cynon Taf and Caerphilly county into lockdown.

People will not be able to enter or leave those areas except for a limited number of exemptions, such as work.

Licensed premises such as pubs and bars will need to shut by 23:00 every night.

People will only be able to mix with those not in their own household outdoors - meeting people from extended households indoors will be banned in the four areas.

The pub rule will also be extended to Caerphilly county borough.


Vaughan Gething, Welsh Government health minister, said there had been a "worrying and rapid rise in cases in four other south Wales council areas - Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Newport".

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"It's always a difficult decision to introduce restrictions but coronavirus has not gone away - it is still circulating in communities across Wales and, as we are seeing in parts of south Wales, small clusters can quickly cause real issues in local communities."

It comes as the UK's four chief medical officers agreed to upgrade the coronavirus alert level from three to four, meaning transmission is "high or rising exponentially".

The new measures affect 431,000 people, meaning that just over 850,000 people in Wales will be under local lockdown from Tuesday.

What are the restrictions?

The rules mean you cannot visit or leave the six counties affected without a "reasonable excuse".

That includes:

  • For work, if you cannot work from home
  • For education
  • For buying essentials like food or medicine
  • To provide or receive emergency assistance
  • To meet a legal obligation, and to access or receive public services
  • To avoid injury or illness or escape a risk of harm
  • To visit family or close friends on compassionate grounds

Motorists can continue to travel through the areas on the M4 and other roads.

People can continue to meet outdoors in groups of up to 30 people, but cannot meet other households indoors at home or in pubs or restaurants.

'People just come out earlier'

Customers at the The Pen and Wig pub in Newport on Monday were not convinced a pub curfew would help to control the virus.

Richard Wooding said the earlier closing time could encourage people to have house parties: "If the bars shut earlier, then people just come out earlier.

"I came out last Saturday, I was appalled at the number of people out. The bar staff can't police it. But I don't think you can stop it. People are just going to party in their own houses."

Another customer, Rebecca James, said: "I don't think there's much of a nightlife here anyway. On the weekends it will affect people, going home early, but during the week everything closes around 11 anyway."

But Justin Cliffe, who runs events for Le Pub, was concerned: "For us as a pub, to close at 11, it's not good. This venue runs until 1am so it's a nightlife spot rather than [somewhere for a] pub lunch.

"So the options that we're discussing are whether the pub closes completely or whether we just revert to doing take out or food for delivery. We're going over the options, but it doesn't look good."


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