Mark Drakeford addresses Christmas lockdown claims

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Cardiff Bay Health Minister Eluned Morgan, 54, said the Welsh Government does not want to “cancel” Christmas during a press conference on the devolved administration’s vaccine roll-out. “The last thing we want to do is cancel Christmas,” she said.M6 closed in BOTH directions: Huge queues after acid spill

“I think it’s important we make that absolutely clear.”

But Ms Morgan, who recently appeared on BBC Question Time in Cardiff, also warned Mark Drakeford’s Government could not rule out introducing tougher restrictions going forward.

“We’re certainly not taking anything off the table either,” she explained.

“So the best thing for people to do is to see if we can remain in a situation where we are able to see each other Christmas… to take precautions now, so we don’t see the increase in rates we’re expecting.”

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When pushed on whether Cardiff Bay could rule out restrictions, Ms Morgan said: “I’m really sorry, I can’t be clearer with you, because we genuinely have no idea how quickly this Omicron is going to spread.

“Certainly, I think people should plan because we don’t know what the situation is going to be at Christmas time.”

Mark Drakeford, 67, added in an interview with ITV: “I’m not prepared to rule them out.

“We looked at this last week and came to the conclusion on Friday that there was no need to move in that direction for this week because in Wales, where we are behind what is happening in other parts of the UK, we think the Delta variant will continue to be the dominant variant for this week.

“By Friday, things may be different and if it is necessary to take actions to protect people’s health in Wales, then difficult as it is and as unwelcome as it will be to us all for the Welsh Government, protecting people’s health and keeping people alive who if we didn’t take action would die, we will not shrink from that responsibility.”

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, 51, responded to the Omicron variant by advising her compatriots to limit socialising to just three other households.

Despite Boris Johnson, 57, putting forward measures to put England into so-called Plan B restrictions, Welsh Conservative health spokesman Russell George, 47, claimed there was not yet enough evidence to introduce additional measures in Wales.

The Montgomeryshire Senedd Member said: “We know that the moment we’ve got a lower rate of the new variant in Wales, we’re yet to see that increase, as the projections have, perhaps, suggested.

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“So we’re not yet in a position where we need to be talking about restrictions and I hope that, of course, remains the case.”

Mr George’s comments come after Wales witnessed a total of 32 confirmed Omicron variant cases.

Wales has also registered a total of 9,051 deaths related to COVID-19 up to December 11.

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