Latest changes to pandemic rules in Bridgend County Borough

Welsh Government has confirmed a number of changes will take effect in Bridgend County Borough from Saturday 17 July following their latest review of pandemic restrictions.

While face coverings will remain a legal requirement in all indoor public places and on public transport, educational settings and hospitality will be exempt.

Up to six people will be able to meet indoors within private homes and holiday accommodation, and there will no longer be a limit on how many can gather outdoors.

Outdoor premises and events will have greater flexibility around physical distancing, and organised indoor events will be able to take place for up to 1,000 people if seated and 200 people if standing.

The previous restriction requiring people attending events to be seated in order to consume food and drink will also be lifted.

While official advice remains to avoid non-essential foreign travel and to holiday at home this summer,

fully-vaccinated adults and under-18s will no longer need to self-isolate when returning from amber-list countries while from Monday 19 July.

In other changes, up to 30 children from organisations such as the Brownies and Scouts will be able to attend residential centres over the summer holidays, and businesses will be required to share information with their staff about the risk and mitigation details contained within their Covid-19 risk assessment plans.

While it is good to see how this latest update to the pandemic restrictions is enabling us to enjoy greater freedoms, we must also remember that coronavirus cases are also rising.

We still need to take precautions and act as a single, unified community in order to protect others from the risk of exposure.

Across the county borough, vaccination rates remain very high with almost 83,000 residents having now benefitted from both doses of the vaccine, but it remains vitally important for everyone to take part as we look towards the next pandemic review, and the opportunity to safely moving further out of alert level one and into alert level zero.

Council Leader Huw David