THREE factors which the Welsh Government will have to consider before easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have been outlined.

Wales' Chief Medical Officer Dr Frank Atherton said the coronavirus epidemic is "shrinking, rather than growing" thanks to tight restrictions.

At a coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, Dr Atherton said restrictions had been eased too quickly in previous lockdowns, allowing the virus to re-establish itself and spread "very quickly".

Dr Atherton said easing restrictions requires a "complex equation", but that it would be based on three factors: the community transmission rate; the capacity within the NHS and the percentage of people vaccinated.

He said: "What we saw there were, even though rates came down quite well, when we released things, we released them in a way that allowed the virus to circulate, to re-establish itself very, very quickly.

"As we do get some more headroom for releasing these measures, what we need to do is release things very cautiously."

First Minister Mark Drakeford is to announce the outcome of a lockdown review this Friday, but Dr Atherton warned that "headroom for the relaxation of rules is really quite limited".

The immediate priority is for students to return to face-to-face learning, Dr Atherton said.

Asked about the potential of more localised lockdowns again in Wales, Dr Atherton said: "It's something that we always keep under review and we do have local incident management teams at local levels giving advice on a daily basis to the Welsh Government.

"Wales is geographically a large place, but population wise is only about three million people, and that we have seen the virus move very quickly throughout the country.

"I think it moves so quickly that an all-Wales approach to my mind remains the best approach."