Care home visits in Gwynedd can still only take place in “exceptional circumstances”, a social care home leader has warned.

Mary Wimbury, the chief executive of Care Forum Wales, warned people not to expect visiting to return to normal any time soon because of the risk involved.

Ms Wimbury issued the warning following the Welsh Government’s announcement it had hit its target of offering vaccinations to care homes for older people by the end of January, with 75 per cent of residents and staff having had their first jabs.

Vaccinations haven’t yet taken place in homes where there have been a significant number of cases of Covid in the past 20 days.

Ms Wimbury said: “We’re delighted care home vaccinations have happened across Wales but we do need to have an element of caution.

“We know it’s only the first dose of the vaccination, people are still waiting for the second and it’s going to have to be a risk assessed approach in relation to visiting.

“We’re not going to return overnight to the situation before the pandemic when friends and family were free to come and go as they pleased.

“At the moment it’s only possible to visit inside a care home under exceptional circumstances – it’s down to the individual judgement of the cases.

“Care homes are naturally cautious given new insurance policies exclude cover for Covid outbreaks and unlike NHS care homes do not have a government indemnity over this.

“The vaccination reduces people’s risk of catching Covid but it doesn’t stop it altogether.

“We’re very grateful to all the GPs and health staff who have gone out of their way to vaccinate people in care homes.”

She added: “Our understanding is that the second dose is due to be given in care homes eight weeks after the first jab which is sooner than the 12 weeks for the general population.

“We’re not there yet and we’re still waiting for that second dose rollout to happen.

“It will move things another step forward, but no vaccine is 100 per cent effective in preventing the disease and we know there is still significant community transmission out there.

“These are steps we are taking as a community, as a society to reduce transmission of the virus and we are still going to have to risk assess things for people in care homes who are in general extremely vulnerable.

“In the meantime, Welsh Government guidance on visiting currently says ‘until the full programme of vaccination and the evaluation of the effects has happened, all the infection prevention measures need to still be followed’.”

The Welsh Government’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister, Eluned Morgan AS, said: “We have put very clear guidance in place to support care homes in allowing people to visit loved ones.

“Of course, we have got to get the balance on this right because we have to protect those people in care homes from the virus.

“With that vaccine being rolled out in care homes, in a few weeks’ time it will be easier for us to allow people to visit.”