Indoor visits to care homes to be allowed from next week

Indoor visits to care homes will be allowed in Wales from Saturday 29 August, subject to strict controls and that levels of coronavirus remain low, First Minister Mark Drakeford will confirm later today.

All non-essential visits to care home were halted when the lockdown was put in place on 23 March. From 16 June visits to care homes have been permitted outdoors and with social distancing measures in place.

Care homes in England were given the green light to allow indoor visitors last month but most homes have so far only allowed outdoor visits.

The First Minister will also say that from tomorrow extended households can expand to include up to four households in an exclusive, extended arrangement.

Currently an extended household can only be made up of two households.

Under the new rules it will not be possible to break up an existing extended household to form a new one.

Weddings and funerals will also be able to include a meal for up to 30 people, in suitably socially distant settings.

Mr Drakeford will stress the government will continue to pursue its cautious approach to lifting restrictions and will warn:  “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.”