THE stay at home rule banning all non-essential travel in Wales could be replaced by a stay local message on Friday.

First Minister Mark Drakeford made the suggestion when speaking to BBC Radio Wales’ Sunday Supplement show with presenter Vaughan Roderick on Sunday morning.

When asked whether the next review of coronavirus restrictions in Wales would lead to an easing of the stay at home message, Mr Drakeford said: “I said two weeks ago that I hoped this would be the last three weeks of the stay at home regulation.

“That is what we will be trying to make happen on Friday.

“I think there is a case for an intermediate step between stay at home and being able to travel anywhere across Wales and we will be looking carefully this week at whether an intermediate period of stay local – people are used to that, we had a period of that last year – whether that would be a first step on a journey.

“Remembering that in Wales that is how we are trying to approach the whole business - carefully, cautiously, step by step, not doing too many things at once - so that we can monitor the impact of changes, and then restore more freedoms to people and to the economy once we are confident that it’s safe to do so."

The next review of Covid-19 restrictions in Wales will take place on Friday with the First Minister also saying that the main priority is getting children and young people back in school as the cabinet aims to draw together a package of measures that meet the current public health circumstances.

Mr Drakeford added: “We will be looking at people’s personal lives.

“Who we can meet and how we can meet them.

“And we’ll be looking to see whether we can take the first tentative steps in reopening the economy in non essential retail.

"Those are the things we will be juggling.

“Trying to put a package together for the next three weeks.

“Then I do hope to be able to say something for the weeks beyond the next three weeks.

“That will look to Easter and see whether there is any emerging headroom to do what we would like to do.

“But will only do if it is safe. And that is to offer the prospect of reopening self contained accommodation in the tourism industry, recognising the significance of Easter to that industry.

”

Daily coronavirus figures released this lunch time show that Ceredigion has again recorded no new cases of Covid-19, the only county in Wales to do so.

Carmarthenshire has recorded give new cases today with Pembrokeshire recording one new case.

Powys has recorded 12 new cases today while Gwynedd has recorded 14.

Rolling seven-day figures which cover 24 February to 2 March show that Ceredigion had the lowest rate of infection in Wales over that period with 12 cases being recorded leaving the county with an infection rate of 16.5.

This was closely followed by Pembrokeshire which recorded 21 cases over the same period and had an infection rate of 16.7 cases per 100,000 population.

Carmarthenshire recorded 88 cases and had an infection rate of 46.6 and Powys recorded 64 cases leaving it with an infection rate of 48.3.

Gwynedd recorded 99 cases over that same period and had an infection rate of 79.5.

The rate of infection across Wales currently stands at 46 cases per 100,000 with 152 cases of the virus being recorded today.

18 deaths were also recorded today taking the total number of fatalities to 5,403.