Mark Drakeford MS, First Minister
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020 were brought into force on 8 June 2020. The Regulations require certain persons arriving at ports from outside of the common travel area (which is the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and Ireland) to provide information about where they will reside when in Wales and to isolate for 14 days following arrival.
Regulation 19 of the Regulations places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to review the need for the requirements imposed by the Regulations and review whether the requirements are proportionate to the purpose Welsh Ministers seek to achieve by them. The first review is due by 29th June 2020.
The Welsh Ministers have considered whether the current Regulations should remain in force, be amended or be revoked. Advice from the four UK Chief Medical Officers prior to the introduction of the current Regulations was that “quarantining for 14 days those people who come from a country with a higher rate than the UK may have a useful impact on the epidemic once the UK is at low levels, but quarantining those from countries with a lower rate than the UK will not”.
Advice from the Chief Medical Officer for Wales is that the position remains unchanged.
The Regulations remain under constant review and the Welsh Government is in discussion with the UK government and the other devolved administrations about potential amendments to the Regulations which would provide, on the basis of an assessment of risk, for arrivals from a specified list of countries to be exempt from the requirements for self-isolation, as well as a range of other potential changes which would widen and extend the categories of persons exempt from the requirements of the Regulations.
On the basis of the evidence available and the advice from the Chief Medical Officer, the Welsh Ministers have therefore determined that the existing Regulations should remain in place. The Regulations may be amended in due course pending the outcome of ongoing discussions with the other UK administrations and full consideration of the medical and scientific advice underpinning any changes which may be proposed.