Indoor care home visits allowed from 29 August, First Minister confirms

Indoor visits to care homes will be allowed in Wales from Saturday 29 August "if conditions remain favourable". Credit: PA Images

Indoor visits to care homes will be allowed in Wales from 29 August "if conditions remain favourable", the First Minister is to confirm.

Mark Drakeford will also say that up to four households will be able to form an 'extended household' from Saturday, after announcing the proposed changes a week ago.

Weddings and funerals will also be able to include a meal for up to 30 people providing they are held in venues that allow for social distancing.

It comes after the health minister confirmed that Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago have been added to the UK's quarantine list.

Vaughan Gething confirmed travellers arriving in Wales from those countries after 4am on Saturday will have to self-isolate for 14 days.

A petition demanding that public services stop moving to online-only has surpassed 50,000 signatures. Credit: ITV Wales

Mark Drakeford has warned that despite the easing of lockdown in Wales, people must remain cautious.

He said: "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."

An exclusive poll for ITV News revealed the majority of care homes in England would not fully reopen to visitors despite a change in UK Government guidance in July.

The response came after some care home residents in England were told they would be allowed to see their loved ones in the flesh for the first time in months after the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to in-person visits.

Some indoor visits were delayed due to an insufficient number of testing kits for care homes.