Care homes in Wales to allow indoor visits from August 29 if conditions ‘remain favourable’

People will be allowed to visit relatives and friends inside care homes in Wales next week if coronavirus conditions “remain favourable”, the Welsh Government has said.

Indoor visits to care homes would be given the green light from August 29 and would be subject to strict controls to help prevent transmissions of the virus.

First Minister Mark Drakeford will formally announce the proposed changes at Friday’s Welsh Government Covid-19 press conference, which would extend the rules currently restricting visits to care homes to outside settings only.

Mr Drakeford is also expected to announce a number of other changes to come into effect from Saturday August 22, including allowing extended households to expand to include up to four other households in their bubble.

Weddings and funerals will also be allowed to cater for meals for up to 30 people as long as they keep to “suitably socially distant settings”.

Mr Drakeford is also expected to use Friday’s press briefing to warn that he will stick to Wales’ “careful and cautious” easing of lockdown rules.

He will say: “While coronavirus remains effectively suppressed in Wales and cases continue to fall, the situation in the rest of the UK and further afield is still problematic.

“Coronavirus has not gone away and so, as we move out of lockdown and look to the future, it is important we do this in a careful and cautious way.”

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