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Such reasonable excuses may be leaving or entering the area for work or education purposes. The tighter restrictions will be introduced in Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy and Wrexham from 6pm on Thursday – impacting the lives of around half a million people. The new lockdown conditions do not affect neighbouring Gwynedd and Anglesey.

In these counties, the reproduction rate of coronavirus currently “remains low”.

Combined with tighter restrictions in South Wales, this will place an estimated 2.3 million people in Wales under renewed lockdown conditions.

However, the worst rate in Wales is in Blaenau Gwent.

The county has had a coronavirus infection rate of 307.7 per 100,000 over seven days.

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In the south of Wales the areas of Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot and the Vale of Glamorgan are all subject to renewed restrictions.

The town of Llanelli is also under local lockdown rules.

Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething said: “Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in coronavirus cases in four north Wales local authority areas.

“In Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham, and Conwy.

“These are largely linked to people socialising indoors and are the pattern of transmission similar to what we have seen in South Wales.

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“We have worked closely with local authority leaders and the police in North Wales and we all agree about the need to take swift action to control the spread of the virus.”

In North Wales residents are only allowed to visit people they do not live with outdoors.

They also will not be able to form, or be in, extended households.

Mr Gething said: “It’s always difficult to make the decision to impose restrictions but we hope that these measures will make a positive difference, just as we have seen in Caerphilly and Newport, where local residents have pulled together and followed the rules.

“It is important we all work together and support each other. This isn’t just about protecting ourselves, it’s about protecting each other.”

Mr Gething made the announcement in the Welsh Parliament on Tuesday evening.

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