DIFFERING dates of lockdown easing may cause issues with cross borders, said the health minister.

At the Welsh Government press conference on February 24, Health Minister Vaughan Gething said ‘at this point’ Wales may be able to move to ‘stay local’ rather than ‘stay at home’, but this depends on the progress in the next two weeks.

However, he said ministers will have to look at ‘what this means’ as England’s long-term roadmap suggests a move to stay local from April 12.

This would cause potential issues with cross border travel which would prevent people going into England or into Wales.

Mr Gething said this is where the four-nations need to ‘talk to each other’ and there are some borders like North East Wales where cross border is a ‘normal part of essential day-to-day services’.

However, he said the stay local move is ‘just an if’ but if that occurs ministers will have to look at the practicalities.

When asked about opening self-contained accommodation for Easter, slightly ahead of England’s planned approach, the health minister said ministers would need to look at rules on travel.

But looking at a long-term forecast would create ‘difficulty’ as that is when it becomes a ‘dates not data’ approach.

He added that approach would be ‘more like astrology than scientific advice’ and the Welsh Government’s three-week review is a ‘deliberate choice’.

Mr Gething was asked about the difference between Wales’ three week reviews compared to England’s long-term roadmap.

He said simplicity in common messaging across the UK would ‘always be helpful’ but England has made ‘different policy choices’.

He added: “What England has chosen to do is move away from the advice of having a more phased approach to returning schools but rather have a big bang on March 8.

“The consequences of that is that they are having to have a bigger gap between that intervention and when they are next contemplating change.”

Mr Gething said Wales was following the advice of a phased approach to opening schools and then a phased approach to opening elsewhere.

He said: “Forecasting much further into the future is fraught with difficulty and uncertainty.

“At various points, trying to give a long-term forecast has made a mug of a range of people, whether it’s coronavirus will be sent packing in 12-weeks or normality by December.

“All of those things have proven to be long-term punts that haven’t fared well with reality. So we are forecasting a reasonable amount in the future with a three-week review and are being upfront about what this means to give people enough time to get used to the practical progress we are making.”

When asked about care homes, the health minister said he recognises the difficulty of loved ones not being able to see one another and changes to visiting care homes will be made with lower rates of the virus.

He said there is ‘tremendous harm’ if Covid gets into a care home, but it is possible to have visits due to enhanced testing and investment into visiting pods.

However, he added that visiting in care homes, people should still expect social distancing in the future, and it would be ‘wrong’ to say when physical contact can take place.