MASKS could be a thing of the past this summer – but they’re not ruling anything out in Wales just yet.

First Minister Mark Drakeford told the Welsh Government briefing he would continue to receive advice from the chief medical officer about mask wearing in public places.

“At the moment, the advice is that it is still a useful part of the defences that we have to keep one another safe,” he said.

“But you can be sure that it is kept very regularly under review when the chief medical officer says to me that he believes it’s no longer something that needs to be required, then that will be reflected in the decision making that we would then follow from that advice.”

Mr Drakeford said the latest modelling suggested there would be a third wave of coronavirus in Wales.

“It would not be of the same magnitude as the waves we saw over the winter and back in the spring of last year,” he said.

“Provided we go on doing things in the way that we have in Wales, not opening too many things in one go, not doing too many things too quickly, pausing to make sure that we review the impact of the things that we do.

“We can build all of that into the model. The model at the moment says there will be a second or third wave.

“With the advantage of vaccination, the impact of such a wave should not be such that we would require the blunt instrument of lockdown to deal with it and the impact on the health service would be managed.”

The final step of the UK Government’s coronavirus action plan - for England only – states that all legal limits on social contact will be removed by June 21 at the earliest, when restrictions on large events such as festivals are also expected to ease.

However, when asked what he position remains to be in Wales, the country’s Labour leader said it is "difficult to anticipate to the end of the year".

He said the UK Government is working on some modelling on this issue, and there "may be some easement over the months ahead".

But he warned: "We are going to be living with coronavirus for many months ahead.

"I don't think it is sensible for me to try to peer into the looking glass right through to the end of the year.

"I think the population of Wales, which has stuck carefully to the rules, will want to go on laying their part rather than acting as if coronavirus as gone away, which of course it will not have done."