The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Wales on 28 February 2020, with a case being reported in the Swansea area; this first known case was a person who had recently returned from Italy. The first known case of community transmission was reported on 11 March in the Caerphilly area.
Wide-ranging restrictions began on many aspects of life in the second half of March 2020; restrictions were relaxed in Wales during the summer once the first wave of the virus had passed. In the autumn of that year, with cases rising, restrictions began to be tightened again with individual areas being placed under localised lockdowns. A two-week complete "circuit-breaker" lockdown began in late October. Rising cases and a new variant of the virus led to restrictions being increased again in December. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations and a fall in cases led to restrictions being relaxed in the spring and summer. Restrictions were briefly tightened and relaxed at around the end of 2021 due to a new variant of the virus. Most COVID-19 related legal restrictions concluded in Wales by the end of March and much of the infrastructure built up around managing the virus was wound down by the middle of 2022.
Many aspects of the response to COVID-19 were the responsibility of the devolved Welsh government. Health is a devolved matter in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Though healthcare is largely run by the state across the UK (through NHS Wales in the Welsh case) with some private and charitable provision, policy and outcomes vary. There was a Conservative Government in Westminster, and a Labour led Government in Cardiff; this ideological divide may have contributed to variances in approach.
Timeline
Early spread (28 February – 23 March)
The first case of COVID-19 in Wales was confirmed on 28 February 2020 in a person who had returned from Northern Italy, and then transferred to a specialist NHS infection centre at the Royal Free Hospital in London. The Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Frank Atherton, said that the Government would be taking "all appropriate measures" to reduce the risk of transmission. On 10 March nine more cases were discovered in Wales, bringing the total to 15, the first significant jump in cases. On 16 March, the first death in Wales was reported in Wrexham.
On 18 March, the Welsh Government announced that all schools in Wales would be closing by 20 March. A limited number of schools were permitted to remain open to provide support for key workers and children with additional needs. It was further announced in the following days that all exams, including GCSEs and A-Levels, would be cancelled, with grades being based on existing work and predicted grades. Similar steps were taken across the UK on that date. On the day of the school closures, rules were also introduced compelling many leisure facilities to also close.
Lockdown (23 March – 1 June)
On 23 March, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, having the agreement of all devolved governments, announced a lockdown of the United Kingdom, with only essential services remaining open. This announcement was followed by the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford announcing that the measures would also cover Wales and would come into effect from that evening. The measures put in place restrict people from leaving their home for non-essential travel, with outside exercise limited to once a day. The measures that controlled exercise outside the home differed from those in England, where the measures in place did not stipulate a once-a-day restriction, whereas the Welsh version specifically limited exercise outside the home to once a day, with the maximum fine being £120, compared to £960 in England. On 20 May, the Government announced that the maximum fine would be increased to £1,920. Gatherings of two or more people, except individuals in the same household, were banned, whilst pubs, restaurants (with exception for take-aways) and shops selling 'non-essential goods' were ordered to closed.
On 25 March the Coronavirus Act 2020 was given Royal Assent, after passing through both Houses in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The following day the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020 were approved by the Senedd, giving the Welsh Government emergency powers to deal with various aspects of managing the pandemic. These new powers include the authority to:
- Take people into or keep them in quarantine
- Restrict or prohibit mass gatherings
- Close premises
On 26 March, Snowdon and other Welsh mountains were closed to the public, after a larger number of tourists had gathered on the mountains in the preceding days, causing traffic mayhem. Natural Resources Wales later announced that all sites and paths liable to have large numbers of people visiting, or pose a high risk, would be closed.
By 27 March, North Wales Police were patrolling the border between Wales and England because visitors were ignoring the stay-at-home instructions and travelling into Wales. In many cases the police were stopping cars entering from England; such border control had not happened between Wales and England since the 16th century.
On 2 April, it was announced that the number of confirmed cases had risen above 2,000 and the number of deaths in Wales had risen above 100. On 5 April the number of cases rose above 3,000.
On 6 April, Jitendra Rathod, a heart surgeon at University Hospital of Wales, died after testing positive for COVID-19. He was thought to have been the first health worker in Wales to die after being diagnosed with the disease.
On 7 April the number of deaths rose above 200. On the same day, distancing measures in the workplace, enforcing a two-metre distance between people, became law in Wales, requiring employers to take "all reasonable measures" to comply.
On 8 April the number of cases rose above 4,000 to 4,073, with 245 deaths notified. On the same day it was announced that the lockdown would not be lifted within the next week.
On 17 April, Public Health Wales reported, for the first time, the areas where the deaths in Wales (to date, 506) had occurred. Almost all were in southeast Wales, with 12 deaths shared between the other health board areas covering west, mid and north Wales. It was later discovered that there had been a delay in reporting the figures from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Mark Drakeford announced that "lockdown could stay in Wales even if it was lifted elsewhere in the UK".
On 8 May, First Minister Mark Drakeford announced that the COVID-19 lockdown in Wales would be extended for a further three weeks. He also announced "modest" changes to the measures already in force: some garden centres would be allowed to re-open, and people could now exercise outdoors more than once per day provided that they "stay[ed] local".
On 10 May, Prime Minister Johnson announced lockdown-easing measures on UK television, without mentioning that the measures were only relevant to England. The first ministers of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales said they would not be adopting his new "Stay alert" slogan (as opposed to "Stay home"). The Welsh Government Counsel General for Wales, Jeremy Miles, said exercise must be local to home and visitors could be fined if they drove into Wales for leisure.
Easing of restrictions (1 June – 7 September)
On 3 June, briefings began (later referred to as 'press conferences') in a series that was set up by Welsh Government as a way of dispersing new information to the people of Wales regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales.
On 12 June, the First Minister Mark Drakeford stated that the R number for Wales was the lowest of any part of the United Kingdom, at 0.7. Ceredigion had the lowest rates of people infected with or dying from COVID-19 in the British mainland, up to June 2020. The area is naturally rural and holiday attractions and the university were closed down very early. The county council set up its own contact tracing system in March 2020.
On 6 July, there were no confirmed deaths in Wales for the first time since the pandemic started.
On 10 July, for the second time, Wales confirmed no deaths. First Minister Mark Drakeford announced changes to the lockdown restrictions and specified dates for the reopening of hospitality businesses, hair and beauty salons, and outdoor leisure facilities. He stated that Frank Atherton, the chief medical officer for Wales, had "confirmed we have some capacity to ease the restrictions further over the next three weeks".
On 17 July, the First Minister announced that the Wales daily briefings would end and instead take place every week.
By 21 July, Wales was recording no new deaths for the eighth time in a month. However, figures released by the Care Inspectorate Wales confirmed that there had been 736 care home resident deaths linked to COVID-19 by 17 July, with the overall number of deaths 71% higher than in the same period last year.
On 25 July, Wales recorded no deaths for the tenth time in a month. On 27 July, it was announced that the R number for Wales was again the lowest of any part of the United Kingdom, between 0.6 and 0.8. By 18 August, the number of people still in hospitalized with COVID-19 was 70.
Restrictions were further eased by an announcement on 31 July, confirming that pubs and restaurants would be able to open indoor areas on 3 August. Up to thirty people would be able to meet outdoors and children under 11 would no longer have to keep a two-metre distance from anyone. Indoor bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls were allowed to reopen, while swimming pools, gyms, leisure centres and indoor play areas would be allowed to reopen from 10 August, all with social distancing.
Towards the end of August, concerns grew about a potential second spike in infections, after passengers arriving at Cardiff Airport from overseas tested positive for the virus. The flight operator, TUI Group, was criticised for failing to enforce mask-wearing during the flight. Health Minister Vaughan Gething later revealed that 30 cases had been linked to four flights into the UK from the island of Zakynthos, and the Welsh and Scottish governments lobbied the UK government to have the island included in the list of quarantine destinations for the UK as a whole.
Reversal of easing of restrictions (7 September – 19 October)
On 7 September 2020, the Welsh Government announced that from 6pm the following day Caerphilly County would be placed back in lockdown. It was the first local lockdown in Wales, and followed the discovery that 98 people had tested positive in a week, giving the county the highest infection rate in Wales.
On 11 September 2020, the Welsh government announced that tighter restrictions would be back in force from Monday 14 September, with face coverings being mandatory for indoor places and social gatherings cut from 30 to 6 people until further notice. On 16 September 2020, Rhondda Cynon Taf became the second place in Wales to have a local lockdown due to a spike in cases. Health minister Vaughan Gething drew attention to some specific cases of flouting of the guidelines, including a coach trip to Doncaster made by a group from Abercynon, which was said to be associated with one of the clusters of cases in RCT, saying "This wasn't a group of young people – it's entirely possible for people in their forties and fifties to behave irresponsibly, and we've seen a significant spread from that event". Members of the club protested that they had not gone to the racecourse but had instead visited local pubs. It was later confirmed that one member of the club had tested positive for COVID-19 and the club had closed a few days before the trip because several members of staff had been taken ill.
In the middle of September the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that the UK was seeing a second wave of COVID-19 cases. On 25 September 2020, the Welsh Government announced that the cities of Cardiff and Swansea, and the town of Llanelli (part of Carmarthenshire) would go into local lockdowns in the next two days, joining Caerphilly, Newport, Bridgend, Merthyr, Blaenau Gwent and Rhondda Cynon Taf. From 28 September, Torfaen, Neath Port Talbot and the Vale of Glamorgan were placed under the same restrictions. On 10 October, the city of Bangor in Gwynedd was placed in a local lockdown.
Circuit breaker (23 October – 9 November)
On 19 October, the Welsh Government announced that a second national lockdown, described as a "fire-break", would be imposed from 23 October until 9 November, coinciding with school half-term holidays which would be extended by a week in colleges and for school students in year 9 (13 to 14 years old) and above, in the hope of bringing down the number of COVID-19 cases. The First Minister announced that all pubs, restaurants, and non-essential shops would be closed during that period. Halloween and bonfire celebrations would not take place in the traditional way, because no indoor or outdoor gatherings with people from other households would be possible, but alternative ways to celebrate would be suggested by the government in due course.