Wales goes into national lockdown by the end of this week

Wales will go into a temporary lockdown from Friday, the first minister, Mark Drakeford, has announced.

Bars and non-essential shops will close for the two-week lockdown, which will be implemented from 6 pm on the 23rd of October.

Such closure of hospitality venues in Wales has been criticised for risking a third of jobs within the industry.

This move comes as the country already has millions of residents within local lockdowns to try and control the outbreak of COVID-19 infections before winter.

The shadow minister for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said that to reach the point of clear support for people and businesses, "because of the failure of policies by Welsh and UK governments to date, to reach that point we need a firebreak now to get the virus under control and to start afresh".

Plaid Cymru has unveiled a 14-point plan to try and reduce infection rates and increase testing for the virus.