Hairdressers, barbers and most indoor tourist
attractions will reopen on Monday, First Minister announced today (Friday 10
July) as he set out further measures to lift Wales’ coronavirus
restrictions.
Following the latest 21-day review of the coronavirus
regulations, the First Minister has set out a phased timetable to
ease restrictions for large parts of Wales’ visitor, hospitality,
and leisure and tourism sectors.
He is asking the beauty sector and other close-contact services,
including tattooists and nail salons, to begin preparing to
reopen from 27 July, if the conditions allow.
Although cases of coronavirus are declining in Wales, the disease
has not gone away and everyone has a responsibility to maintain
social distancing, good hand hygiene and to respect the places
and communities they visit.
First Minister said:
“Together we are making good progress to tackle the spread of
this virus. It is thanks to the efforts we have made together
that we are able to lift the restrictions and re-open more
parts of our society and economy.
“However, the threat from coronavirus has not gone away and
only by all of us acting responsibly will we be able to keep
Wales safe. This means maintaining social distancing, thinking
carefully about where we go and why.”
Immediate changes will come into effect tomorrow (Saturday 11
July) when self-contained holiday accommodation opens.
From Monday, (13 July) the following will be able to open,
subject to following the guidance about coronavirus-safe ways to
operate:
- Hairdressing salons and barbershops, including mobile
hairdressers.
- Pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes outdoors.
- Outdoor cinemas.
- Indoor visitor attractions, but a small number of underground
visitor attractions will remain closed for the time being because
of the higher risks associated with these environments. The Welsh
Government will continue to work with these attractions towards
safe re-opening.
- Places of worship. Faith leaders can begin to gradually
resume services when they are ready to do so safely.
The Welsh Government is also making changes to the regulations to
allow larger gatherings of up to 30 people outdoors only where
these are organised and supervised by a responsible person for
sports and other leisure activities and classes.
This will allow sports and leisure activities, such as fitness
and dance classes to take place outdoors, as well as collective
worship.
From July 20, playgrounds, community centres and outdoor gyms
will be able to reopen gradually over the following weeks as and
when safety checks and mitigations are put in place. Re-opening
community centres will help local authorities provide summer
holiday play schemes and childcare.
The First Minister is today calling on other businesses and
sectors to prepare for re-opening from 27 July:
- Close contact services, including nail and beauty salons and
businesses providing tanning services, massages, body piercings,
tattooing, electrolysis or acupuncture.
- Indoor cinemas, museums, galleries and archive services.
- Tourist accommodation with shared facilities, such as camping
sites. Opening would be from 25 July.
- Reopening the housing market fully.
A final decision about reopening these sectors will depend on
conditions and feedback from the initial opening of the tourism
industry, indoor attractions and hairdressing sector.
First Minister said:
“We have used our headroom to continue re-opening our economy
and society in Wales. We have also used part of our headroom to
enable the Welsh NHS to provide more essential care and
treatment for people – services, which were suspended in March
to allow the health service to prepare for coronavirus.
“Our ability to carry on lifting the restrictions rests on
everyone in Wales – we need everyone’s help to continue
following the rule to keep levels of coronavirus at an absolute
minimum.”
The Welsh Government will also make changes to the physical
distancing regulations to reflect some of the challenges faced by
the hospitality, beauty industry and other sectors where a 2m
distance cannot be reasonably maintained at all times.
The law in Wales will continue to make the 2m distance the
default position, because this remains the safest way to protect
people’s health. But when 2m cannot reasonably be maintained, the
regulations will require businesses to put in place a set of
additional measures to minimise the risk of the virus spreading,
including taking reasonable steps to minimise close face-to-face
contact and maintain hygiene.
The next formal review of the regulations is due by 30 July.
Detailed discussions about how indoor hospitality can operate in
a coronavirus-safe way are ongoing. Options for reopening will be
considered from 3 August, if conditions allow.
The next formal review of the regulations is due by 30 July.
Detailed discussions about how indoor hospitality can operate in
a coronavirus-safe way are ongoing. Options for reopening will be
considered from 3 August, if conditions allow.
The Welsh Government is also discussing with local authorities
and other operators how gyms, leisure centres, fitness studios
and swimming pools can introduce measures to safely open. Further
work is being undertaken about the risk of coronavirus in
swimming pools.
