Shielding set to be ‘paused’ at the end of the month with people encouraged to make ‘sensible responsible decisions’

Shielding measures are set to be paused after the 31st March the Health Minister has said.

Shielding was re-announced just before Christmas, with letters going out from the Chief Medical Officer for Wales during January.

As part of today’s range of announcements the First Minister Mark Drakeford said at lunchtime, “As things improve it is important that people in the shielding group can share in that improvement, while always making sensible responsible decisions in their own circumstances”.

Today the Health Minister has said in a written statement, “From 22nd December the advice to the clinically extremely vulnerable has been that they should no longer attend work or school outside the home and should remain at home as much as possible. This change was made in the context of cases of coronavirus rising exponentially, alongside the identification of a new variant of coronavirus circulating in Wales. This advice is in place until 31st March.”

“Case prevalence is now significantly below what it was in December and on a trend downwards across Wales. Conscious of the associated harms when asking people to follow shielding measures, we must only keep this advice in place for as long as is absolutely necessary. In light of the change of context, the Chief Medical Officer has recommended that the advice to the clinically extremely vulnerable to follow shielding measures should be paused after the 31st March.”

“It is important to note that just as we are planning relaxations and the first dose of the vaccine has been offered to all of this group, experience has shown that we do need to be prepared to potentially step advice up again if required. The shielding patient list will remain in place and available should we need to ask anyone to follow shielding measures again in future. It is my sincere hope that this will not be necessary.”

You can view the full briefing from earlier today on the below video:

Cynhadledd i'r Wasg byw gyda'r Prif Weinidog Mark Drakeford | Press Conference with First Minister Mark Drakeford https://t.co/VKxqu4xHF3

— Welsh Government #StayLocal (@WelshGovernment) March 12, 2021