Coronavirus (COVID-19) – latest advice

Two week “Fire Break” lockdown to commence from 6pm on Friday 23rd October 2020 (Monday 19th October 2020)

Important note: Please check the website regularly to ensure that you have the latest advice on this ever changing topic.

The First Minister has confirmed today that Wales will enter a “fire break” lockdown at 6pm on Friday the 23 October 2020. This period will continue until the 9th of November.

The key messages are that:

• This is a “stay at home order”, people are expected to stay at home as much as possible.
• Local lockdown boundary regulations are superseded by this “fire break” lockdown, but people will be encouraged to stay local.
• You will not be able to play sport or exercise with people from outside of your household, indoors or outdoors. Elite sport sessions will also be suspended for this period.
• People must work from home where possible. Only critical workers should work as normal- non-essential meetings should be put on hold.
• All businesses such as retail, hospitality, leisure, sports clubs etc, except “essential retail” will close, similar to the position in April.
• Licensed childcare can stay open. Primary school will return as normal after half term, with year 7 & 8 also returning to school.
• All gatherings with people outside of your immediate household will not be permitted, whether indoors or outdoors.
• Exercise should start and end at home (unless there are mobility issues etc).
• No specific form of exercise is prohibited, and there are no constraints on duration/distance, however there are practical limits on what people may do imposed by the stay at home order and the closure of some businesses.
• The period is strictly time limited to two weeks.
• There are further funds being released by the Welsh Government to businesses affected, payment of some of these funds will be automatic.

Extensive FAQs are available on the Welsh Government website, including sections on sport and exercise: https://gov.wales/coronavirus-circuit-break-frequently-asked-questions

Based on our Return to Play Roadmap below, this “fire break” lockdown will result in the sport temporarily going back from the Amber to Black phase for the period of 2 weeks. We will let you know as soon as it emerges what phase we can move back to after the 2 weeks.