Wales to introduce 'rule of six', but only for indoor gatherings

However, while England and Scotland are enforcing the rule from Monday 14 September where social gatherings both indoors and outside will be limited to a maximum of six people, the rule will only be applied to gatherings indoors in Wales.

Under the rules, people in Wales will be banned from meeting in groups of more than six people from Monday (14th) and these people must all belong to the same extended household group. Unlike in England, the rule does not apply to children under 12.

In Wales, four households can form an exclusive extended household in Wales, and there is no change to the rules on meeting outdoors, where up to 30 people from different homes can meet outside. In Caerphilly County Borough, where a local lockdown is currently being enforced, the suspension on extended households meeting indoors will continue.

Speaking to the BBC, Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford said there was no evidence to cut the size of outdoor gatherings. “We have never had evidence at all in Wales that the virus is being spread by people meeting together in the open air,” he said.

“I think the evidence on this has been very clear for a long time. The virus doesn’t thrive in the outdoors and in the sunlight, it does thrive indoors and in the dark and the cold and we are making that distinction.”

Drakeford has also announced that face masks must be worn in shops and other indoor public spaces from Monday in response to new figures that show that 20 people in every 100,000 in Wales now had Coronavirus.