Three more cases of Omicron in Wales

Public Health Wales has confirmed three further cases of the variant Omicron in Wales.

All three cases are in the Cardiff and Vale Health Board area.

According to Dr Meng Khaw, National Director of Public Health Wales Screening and Health Protection Services, two of the cases are travel-related, and the other is currently under investigation.

It means that four cases have been detected in Wales so far. The first case of Omicron was confirmed in Wales on Friday.

The next Covid rules review set to take place on Friday., and the First Minister said they would decide at the last moment how to proceed as new information about Omicron was coming in very quickly.

Speaking on the Politics Wales programme, Mr Drakeford said: “We’ve got another week to go. We will learn a lot in that week about the Omicron virus.”

One possible move would be to extend the Covid pass to hospitality, including pubs and restaurants.

“But we haven’t made that decision, and we won’t make that decision right up until the day we have to, because circumstances and knowledge are developing so fast around the new variant that you ought to wait to have the maximum amount of information that you can,” Mark Drakeford said.

“As we have said before, there is an expectation of an increase in the variant Omicron in Wales,” he said.

4,262 new cases of Covid have been confirmed in the latest round of statistics released today, covering a 48 hour period.

A further six deaths have also been confirmed throughout Wales.