Summary

  • The UK government furlough scheme to pay the wages of workers on leave because of coronavirus is being extended to October

  • Wales Golf has advised clubs they could reopen from Monday, 18 May

  • The announcement follows updated guidance from the Welsh Government that some golf clubs could reopen in Wales for "local members"

  • A further 16 people have died with Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total to 1,132, Public Health Wales (PHW) has said

  • More intensive care doctors need to be trained to address a "huge deficit", a senior medic has warned

  • A petition calling for the funeral costs of NHS staff who die with coronavirus to be paid by the Welsh Government will be discussed later

  • Charities say people are at greater risk of self-harm or suicide because of a reduction in mental health services during lockdown

  1. Goodnightpublished at 19:00 BST 12 May 2020

    That is it from us for today on the live page. We will be back tomorrow with all the latest news from 07:00 BST.

    We will leave you with a recap of today's main coronavirus news in Wales:

  2. Booking request surge for Welsh holiday parkpublished at 18:53 BST 12 May 2020

    Golden Sands holiday parkImage source, Google

    A Welsh holiday park said it had been inundated with requests for bookings after it was announced that lockdown measures would be eased in England.

    People living in England are allowed to travel for their exercise, but that is not allowed in Wales where people are restricted to staying near their homes.

    Laurie Clark, general manager of Golden Sands in Rhyl, said some callers did not believe the different rules.

    He said the resort had had about 40 requests since Sunday's announcement for England by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

    The differences in lockdown rules between England, and those of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, have already created confusion.

    • Not the time for a 'round-Gower ride'published at 18:47 BST 12 May 2020

      Swansea council says residents should not be pedalling all around Gower Peninsula when heading out for a bike ride.

      In a message on social media, the council states that cyclists should not venture beyond a "reasonable walking distance from home".

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    • Transport for Wales looks at supermarkets' stepspublished at 18:40 BST 12 May 2020

      The company responsible for railway services in Wales says it is looking at steps taken by supermarkets as they try to keep their own staff and customers safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

      However, Transport for Wales chief executive James Price said "now is not the time" to "invite people back” onto services and that they are operating for essential users only.

      He said the safety of customers and staff is "at the forefront" of everything the company does.

      "Social distancing and basic hygiene are clearly things that we are already embracing and will be at the heart of everything that we do, including enhanced cleaning regimes which we've been doing right from the very start," Mr Price said.

      A recent survey by Transport Focus suggested that more than 60% of UK passengers would not feel comfortable using public transport unless social distancing is in place, while 51% would not be happy unless passengers were required to wear face masks.

      To ease the pressure on services, Mr Price said Transport for Wales is encouraging people to use other means of travel “where they can”.

      A Transport for Wales trainImage source, TFW
    • MP's comments 'wrong and unhelpful', says Tory colleaguepublished at 18:28 BST 12 May 2020

      Daniel KawczynskiImage source, UK Parliament
      Image caption,

      Daniel Kawczynski was criticised by his party colleague

      An English Tory MP's call for the Welsh Parliament to be abolished has been described as "wrong and unhelpful" by a Welsh colleague.

      Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said he was fed up with Wales having different rules to England.

      Unlike in Wales, people in England can drive to "other destinations" to exercise from Wednesday.

      Montgomeryshire MP Craig Williams said Mr Kawczynski should not be questioning the "fundamentals of Welsh democracy".

      Craig Williams
      Image caption,

      Craig Williams represents Montgomeryshire

    • NFU Cymru outlines challenges faced by farmerspublished at 18:13 BST 12 May 2020

      Dairy cattleImage source, Getty Images

      National Farmers’ Union Cymru president John Davies says the coronavirus crisis has created “real difficulties” for farmers.

      Mr Davies today gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee in Westminster as part of its inquiry into the impact of coronavirus on the Welsh economy.

      Speaking after the session, he said agriculture’s “long production cycles” made the pandemic particularly challenging.

      “This can create real difficulties when markets and demand patterns change as suddenly as they did when lockdown measures were introduced,” he said.

      “These difficulties are currently being felt most acutely in the dairy and beef sectors as supply chains struggled to re-align when demand for meat and dairy products in the food service sector dried up overnight.”

      Mr Davies said the food service sector and those who supply it would need “quite some time” to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

      He said measures should be put in place in case of “similar disruption in future”.

    • MPs prepare for first virtual votepublished at 17:56 BST 12 May 2020

      MPs are due to cast their votes in the first ever remote division in the House of Commons.

      They will vote remotely on a motion on a general debate on Covid-19. , external

      MP for Pontypridd Alex Davies-Jones tweeted a photo of her computer screen.

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    • Frustration over driving theory testspublished at 17:45 BST 12 May 2020

      A learner driver's 'L' plateImage source, Getty Images

      A driving instructor from Gwynedd is frustrated because key workers cannot sit theory tests in Wales.

      Under the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s Covid-19 guidelines, key workers can take theory and practical tests.

      But emergency theory test centres are only open in Birmingham, London and Glasgow.

      Bleddyn Hughes from Laslo Driving School says Welsh candidates are at a disadvantage.

      Mr Hughes, from Bethesda, told BBC Radio Cymru’s Post Cyntaf programme: “There’s no sense in expecting learner drivers to travel so far to try their theory test, especially in a lockdown.”

      There are five practical driving test centres in Wales – Cardiff, Swansea (for motorcycles), Llanelli, Llantrisant and Bangor.

      A spokesperson for the DVSA said: “Theory test centres currently remain open, in London, Birmingham and Glasgow and there are five driving test centres available in Wales to test critical worker candidates. We are continuing to keep all measures under review.”

    • Wearing a face mask 'a matter of personal choice'published at 17:33 BST 12 May 2020

      The chief medical officer for Wales says he is not recommending everyone wears a non-clinical face mask but supports the public's right to choose to wear them.

      Dr Frank Atherton said: “I am not recommending the compulsory wearing of face coverings by everyone whenever they leave home – this should be a matter of personal choice....

      "Our advice remains to stay at home, to protect the NHS and save lives.”

      He said when outside the home people should maintain social distancing, wash their hands regularly and not touch their face.

      He said he was concerned about “three harms” that could come about if he recommended face coverings for public use in Wales – shortage of stocks of clinical masks for front-line caregivers, an increase in risky behaviours - such as not staying at home if you are ill - and discrimination as “not everyone can buy a mask or make one”.

      Wales is now the only UK nation not to recommend face coverings in certain indoor settings.

    • Government urged to help Welsh football clubspublished at 17:23 BST 12 May 2020

      Action shot from a football matchImage source, Getty Images

      A north Wales member of the Senedd has urged the Welsh government to safeguard the future of football clubs.

      Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd says many of Welsh clubs – in the Cymru Premier and below – are “the beating heart” of their communities.

      Mr Gruffydd said: "I'm aware of the support given to businesses in general but football clubs throughout the country are facing a perfect storm of ongoing costs, zero income and the potential for a large reduction in crowds due to social distancing.

      "These are community clubs that saw their income disappear overnight and we need to make sure they will be there whenever the economy recovers."

      Mr Gruffydd says the Welsh Government should consider offering either grants or loans to football clubs.

      "We've already seen Rhyl FC disappear and I don't want to see any others going under through no fault of their own due to the pandemic,” he added.

      “We have clubs with a huge historical significance as well as playing an important social, cultural and economic role in their communities.

      “I'm concerned that we could lose some of these in the coming months and years unless swift action is taken."

    • Florence Nightingale portrait tribute to nursespublished at 17:16 BST 12 May 2020

      Artist Nathan Wyburn has joined the celebrations to mark International Nurses Day and the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth by creating a portrait of her made up of the images of 100 Welsh nurses.

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    • Welsh Government welcomes extension to job support schemepublished at 17:04 BST 12 May 2020

      Wales' finance minister has welcomed the UK government's announcement that wage subsidies to save jobs during the coronavirus pandemic would continue until October.

      Rebecca Evans said the job retention scheme was "fundamental to our ability to provide wider support to Welsh businesses in this crisis".

      But she urged the UK government to "engage devolved nations before further decisions are taken".

      It follows a row over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Sunday night televised address, in which he revealed changes to lockdown rules in England which the other UK nations said they had not been consulted over.

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    • Why are there more cases in Rhondda Cynon Taff?published at 16:54 BST 12 May 2020

      Deaths by council area

      Cardiff is the local area in Wales with the most Covid-19 deaths at 265 - Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) is next with 201, according to the latest weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics.

      But RCT also has the highest death rate in Wales - when the size of the population is taken into account - 83.7 deaths per 100,000, closely followed by Blaenau Gwent.

      There has also been concern raised in RCT in recent days about figures from Public Health Wales (PHW), which show the rate of cases per 100,000 is the highest in Wales at 541.8.

      This is also currently higher than all local authority areas in England, apart from Barrow-in-Furness, when Public Health England figures are looked at.

      Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil also have more than 500 cases per 100,000 of the population.

      We asked PHW why this might be.

      A PHW spokesman said: "The statistics Public Health Wales provides are part of a rapid reporting system. Unfortunately, it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty why the positivity rate may be higher in some areas than others, especially by comparing areas of Wales with other parts of the UK.

      "There are a wide variety of factors that may influence this variation. For example, variation in true burden of disease, population composition, testing policy, access to testing and uptake of testing rates could account for differences in the positivity.

      "Conclusions should not be immediately drawn from these variations."

      Coronavirus rate graphic
    • Football season over for youngsterspublished at 16:38 BST 12 May 2020

      The Football Association of Wales logoImage source, Getty Images

      Mini, junior and youth football leagues in Wales have had their seasons ended with immediate effect because of the coronavirus pandemic.

      The Football Association of Wales said its board had ratified the move after a recommendation from their community game board.

      The FAW’s national league board has also taken the same decision with academy football leagues.

      “The decision has been made with the health and safety of all those involved with these leagues of paramount importance,” the FAW said.

      “A decision on the conclusion and method of ending the season will be discussed further by the FAW board of directors in due course and communicated to the area associations thereafter.”

    • Golf club on Wales-England border to re-openpublished at 16:26 BST 12 May 2020

      A gold club that has holes in both Wales and England will re-open tomorrow, its secretary has said.

      Llanymynech Golf Club near Welshpool in Powys had said "inconsistencies" between lockdown guidance from the UK government and Welsh Government was hindering practical compliance.

      Golf courses in England will reopen tomorrow with people allowed to play with members of the same household or with one other person from a different household but golf clubs in Wales are not re-opening until Monday, 18 May.

      But the golf club has said it will re-open tomorrow and operate restricted hours between 08:00 and 17:00 BST.

      Greens in both Wales and England will be playable but the club house will not re-open.

      Llanymynech Golf ClubImage source, John Haynes / Geograph
    • Funeral petition should be taken forward, says Senedd committeepublished at 16:14 BST 12 May 2020

      In an update to a story we brought you earlier, the Senedd petition committee has said a petition calling for the funeral costs of NHS staff who die with coronavirus to be covered by the public purse should be taken forward.

      Some 400 people have signed the petition submitted by Cardiff University academics Professor Jane Henderson and Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen.

      The Welsh Government has said a £60,000 death-in-service benefit announced last month should help cover financial hardship.

      Members of the Senedd's petition committee today said they would like to write to Health Minister Vaughan Gething for more details.

      Rhondda MS Leanne Wood said: "Yes, there's been a commitment to pay a death-in-service benefit to NHS salaries, but this is something separate."

      She said the issue was "much wider" than just NHS workers, saying: "There are care workers, there are people in the supermarkets, people driving with food, people driving taxis and buses.

      "There are a whole range of people - people who collect our refuse and so on - who are low-paid, in the main, and face serious risk.

      "Their families should not be facing this extra financial burden in the terrible, terrible situation where they lose a loved-one because of this.

      "So, I think all workers who have died as a result of Covid, in the work that they do, deserve to have their funerals covered by the state at the very minimum."

      NHS staffImage source, Getty Images
    • Face masks: How is Wales' advice different to England?published at 16:04 BST 12 May 2020

      Online searches for the term "face mask" shot up on Monday following a change of recommendation from the UK government that people should wear face coverings in indoor situations where it is hard to socially distance, such as shops or buses.

      But, crucially, this advice only applies in England, leading to confusion among some residents in Wales as to what they should do.

      First Minister Mark Drakeford has been quite clear on this point: his government is not recommending or mandating that people in Wales have to wear masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic.

      He told the public during the daily coronavirus briefing on Monday that Wales' chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton advised there was only a "marginal public health case" for the measure.

      "It doesn't protect you, the wearer, from anybody else, but it may protect other people from the risk of you infecting them," Mr Drakeford said.

      However he did concede there was a case for wearing them if it gave people "confidence" but stressed they should not be looking to source medical-grade masks which are needed for healthcare workers.

      Woman wearing face maskImage source, Getty Images
    • Number of deaths has fallenpublished at 15:54 BST 12 May 2020

      Death registration chart

      For the first time, Wales and other parts of the UK are showing a fall in the percentage of deaths involving coronavirus, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

      The weekly statistics also show that the number of registered deaths from all causes - as well as Covid-19 deaths - has fallen compared with the previous week.

      But there were still 8,012 more deaths than the five-year average across England and Wales.

      In Wales, there were 929 deaths from all causes - this is still 305 deaths above the five-year average for this week.

      So far in the pandemic, there have been 1,641 deaths registered involving coronavirus in Wales.

    • Tory MP rebuked by colleague over Welsh lockdown rowpublished at 15:39 BST 12 May 2020

      A Welsh Conservative MP has defended the Welsh Parliament after a party colleague called for it to be abolished because of confusion over different lockdown rules from England.

      On Monday, Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski told BBC Radio Shropshire his "blood is boiling" because Welsh restrictions on movement meant some people in England could not visit their nearest beach.

      He also accused the Welsh Assembly - now the Welsh Parliament - of "undermining" Prime Minister Boris Johnson "at a time of crisis" by having different lockdown rules.

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      Montgomeryshire MP Craig Willams has now written an open letter to his parliamentary neighbour saying they should "respect" the Welsh Government and Welsh Parliament's constitutional powers, "granted through multiple referendums by the people of Wales".

      "The time for serious debate and inquiry into the effect of this divergence is not for now. It will come later," he said.

      "In the meantime, to question the fundamentals of Welsh democracy because of any divergence is wrong and unhelpful."

      Mr Williams claimed the "only way to ensure better coordination through times of crisis" was to work to get a Conservative Welsh Government elected in 2021.

      Craig Williams
      Image caption,

      Craig Williams said to "question the fundamentals of Welsh democracy because of any divergence is wrong and unhelpful"

    • Nurses thanked on Florence Nightingale's birthdaypublished at 15:26 BST 12 May 2020

      Key workers and patients in Wales are marking International Nurses Day by tweeting their thanks.

      The day is celebrated around the world every 12 May, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth.

      The former president of the Welsh Liberal Democrats William Powell, who spent three weeks on a ventilator after being diagnosed with Covid-19, tweeted pictures of him in hospital with the nurses who cared for him saying he owed them a "debt of gratitude".

      Anaesthetist Gemma Phillips tweeted it had been the nurses supporting her during her tiring shifts, adding they were the "backbone of the NHS".

      The Chief Fire Officer for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Huw Jakeway tweeted he had "so many nurses in our family", adding: "You are truly amazing and dedicated to caring for others."

      Cardiff Central MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Digital Culture Media and Sport Jo Stevens tweeted her thanks, adding: "We cannot simply go back to business as usual for them once this is over."

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