The tracing of contacts of people who receive a positive coronavirus test result in Wales will begin in phases from 1 June, the Welsh Government has announced.

Ministers want to restart contact tracing as a way to help ease the country out of lockdown.

People who have been in close contact with those who have tested positive will be asked to self-isolate.

Contact tracing pilots have been run in four health board areas since 18 May.

However, the 1 June date comes despite a council leader warning it could be two weeks before a new system for tracking and tracing coronavirus cases is rolled out across Wales.

Andrew Morgan, leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA), suggested the IT system to support it would be ready by "the first or second week of June".

The Test, Track and Protect plan involves tracing anyone who has come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and advising them to self-isolate to stop further spread.

Meanwhile testing capacity in labs in Wales - which process tests from drive-in centres, hospitals, and care homes - has risen to more than 9,000 tests a day, Mr Gething said.

The Welsh Government expects to have capacity for "10,000 tests a day in the near future". Wales is also part of a UK-wide home testing scheme.

When will it start?

A statement from Health Minister Vaughan Gething said it will "implement contact tracing on a phased-basis"

"From 1 June, we will implement population contact tracing on receipt of a positive test result," he wrote.

It is not clear from the statement how the phasing of the scheme will work.

Previously published plans estimated that 1,000 staff will be needed, with councils and health boards both involved.

Contact tracing was used for coronavirus earlier in the year, until it was halted in March.

How will it work?

Under previously published plans it will involve:

• identifying those with symptoms consistent with Covid-19, enabling them to be tested while isolating
• tracing individuals who have been in close contact with the person
• providing advice and guidance, particularly where the individual or their contacts are vulnerable or at greater risk
• ensuring that if an individual tests negative and symptoms are not due to coronavirus, individuals and contacts get back to normal routines.

However, Mr Gething, health minister, said contacts of everyone with symptoms will not be traced unless they receive a positive test result.

That is because only 12% of tests are returning a positive result.

If everyone with symptoms was subject to contact tracing it "could result in many people being asked to isolate when there is no positive case", he said.