Covid: Children can leave lockdown areas for sport

Children will be allowed to leave areas under lockdown in order to play sport, following an outcry over coronavirus regulations.

Currently, 15 counties in Wales are in lockdown, meaning no-one can enter or leave without a reasonable excuse.

But more than 8,000 people signed a petition calling for rules to change, saying it was damaging to children's mental and physical health.

Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said the regulations would be amended.

Under coronavirus rules, amateur sports are not currently classed as a "reasonable excuse" to travel in or out of an area subjected to local lockdown restrictions.

But parents have spoken of their concerns about their children's wellbeing, with many unable to meet their team mates and friends for training due to it being in a different county.

Speaking at the Welsh Government's coronavirus briefing on Friday, Mr Drakeford said he "intended" for the regulations to be amended to "allow children to take part in organised sporting activities if these take place outside their county boundaries".

In Wales, the infection rate stands at 95.1 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, with 2,999 people testing positive in the last week.

Mr Drakeford said restrictions, which affect about 2.3 million people and apply to 15 out of 22 counties in Wales, would not yet be eased.

"The local restrictions we have had to introduce have not yet had a chance to make a difference in many parts of Wales," he said.

In Caerphilly, the first part of Wales' placed in local lockdown, people have already been told restrictions will be in place for at least another week after an increase in cases.

Mr Drakeford said cases were "rising rapidly" in Gwynedd and the Welsh Government was considering whether measures were needed to control the spread of the virus there.

He also warned that cases in Flintshire and Denbighshire were high, with the case rate now well above 100 cases per 100,000 of the population.

The health minister has already warned that pubs and bars could be closed if cases continued to rise which comes after final orders were called in parts of Scotland.

Mr Drakeford said he had spoken to the Chief Constable of Gwent Police and rising cases in the area were not linked to pubs and bars.

"We will take action, where the evidence tells us that is the problem", he said, adding the measures would be similar to those in Scotland, and those due to come in over the border in England.

Mr Drakeford said unless measures were taken, the "position would get worse, not better", and "over the winter, we will all be asked to make further sacrifices".

He added: "I know that it is against this difficult background, that people are worried and anxious about what the next few months hold.

"It's really difficult and frustrating to find ourselves back in the position we faced earlier in the year.

"But we do know too, and I know you know to, that unless we take these actions now, the position will get worse, not better."