LOCKDOWN in Wales will remain in place for another three weeks - but there are hopes that restrictions might be loosened in mid-March.

Stay-at-home restrictions will remain in place in Wales for a further three weeks First Minister, Mark Drakeford, will announce today (Friday), but the Welsh Government will consider the restrictions around non-essential retail and close contact services when the lockdown rules are next reviewed on 12 March.

School children in nursery, reception and years 1 and 2 will begin returning to class from Monday across Wales and Mr Drakeford has said that the Welsh Government will also be considering at its next review on 12 March, if all primary pupils and some older students can return to schools and colleges from Monday 15 March, if the public health situation continues to improve.

Mr Drakeford is expected to talk about encouraging green shoots of recovery in his speech later today and look ahead to the next review in three weeks time.

He will also say that, thanks to Wales’ team effort, cases of coronavirus are at their lowest level since the end of September, while one in three adults in Wales has had a coronavirus vaccine.

Wales’ overall rate of infection is currently 84 cases per 100,000 population.

The regional breakdown however varies.

Over the seven-day period 7-13 February, Ceredigion’s rate of infection was just 26.1 cases per 100,000 population, the lowest in Wales.

Powys however had a rate of infection of 111.8 cases after recording 148 positive Covid results over that same time period.

Gwynedd had a rate of infection of 87.5 over that same time period with Carmarthenshire having a rate of 67.8 and Pembrokeshire, 48.5.Commenting on the possibility of more children returning to schools in Wales from 15 March, Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said: “Welsh Government is right to say that it is considering a return for KS2 and some secondary pupils only if the public health situation continues to improve."This absolutely has to be the case. "We need to be able to assess the impact of the foundation phase return before making any firm commitments."It is important that we continue to be guided by the science rather than getting stuck on one particular arbitrary date. We all want to see all children back in school as soon as it is safe, but that return has to be sustainable, with a proper plan to minimise continued disruption to children’s education going forward.“Schools are already facing significant operational challenges in bringing back foundation phase next week, and more work will need to be done on the advice issued by government to make sure the safety measures schools need to take to welcome back more learners are clear."At the moment, certain aspects of the operational guidance on measures such as bubbles, face covering, social distancing are vague at best.“Schools are doing all they can to reassure staff and parents of the measures they are taking to support the wider reopening, but we need to look at the impact of foundation phase return before thinking of extending the onsite provision further."The government will also have to put effort into reassuring families that it is safe to send their children back to school – there is a confidence test the government must pass to make the return a success.”