FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford will set out how Wales will move back to Covid-19 Alert Level Zero over the next two weeks today.

Since December 26 Wales has had alert level two Covid restrictions in place due to a wave of Covid cases, particularly the Omicron variant.

But last night, the Welsh Government issued a statement saying some of these restrictions can now be removed.

Its statement reads: "The Welsh Government is able to start removing the protections put in place in response to the omicron wave, thanks to the support of people across Wales and the successful booster campaign – more than 1.75million people have had the extra booster dose."

The First Minister will hold a press conference today from 12.15pm.

Mr Drakeford will set out the two-week plan to ease the alert level two restrictions.

The move to Alert Level Zero will be phased over two weeks, with restrictions on outdoor activities being removed first.

This could mean Wales follows Scotland where the 500-person cap on outdoor events in Scotland will be lifted from Monday

It would mean that spectators could attend outdoor sporting events once again, giving hope that Wales could play home Six Nations matches in Wales and football could return to The Racecourse.

More details will be revealed this morning, and will be reported on this website as soon as they are available.

We will also bring you updates from the Welsh Government briefing from 12.15pm in our Live Blog.

The Covid restrictions which have been in place in Wales since Boxing Day:

  • The closure of nightclubs
  • Two-metre social distancing in offices and public places
  • A maximum of 30 people allowed to attend indoors events and up to 50 people at outdoor events – including community sports events
  • The rule of six for people meeting in public places
  • People attending weddings, civil partnership receptions, or wakes, asked to take lateral flow tests before going
  • Last week Welsh Government also introduced changes to PCR testing in Wales following “unprecedented” demand for PCR testing

These changes were:

  • People who are unvaccinated contacts of positive cases and are self-isolating for 10 days should now take a lateral flow test on day two and day eight instead of a PCR test.
  • If a person showing no symptoms has a positive lateral flow test they are now longer be advised to have a follow-up PCR test to confirm the result unless they are in a clinically vulnerable group, which may need early access to treatment or have been advised to do so as part of a research or surveillance programme.