'Stay local' guidance will be lifted from Monday

Mr Drakeford made the announcement that the five mile 'rule of thumb' will be lifted after Wales had made sufficient progress to keep the coronavirus "under control."

"I'm very pleased to confirm that the conditions are right for us to be able to lift the requirement for people to stay local and this decision has been endorsed by the chief medical officer for Wales," he said.

READ MORE:

• WATCH: The moment staff did a walkout of the Orb steelworks for their last ever shift.
• Future of Newport restaurant safe for now despite company going into administration.
• Building Grange University Hospital - video crams 3 years' work into 17 seconds.

"This will allow people to travel throughout Wales once again, it will support the outdoor visitor attraction industry enabling it to re-open to the public.

"If all goes well next week, this will signal the phased re-opening of the important visitor and tourism sector in Wales."

However Mr Drakeford warned just because the restrictions are lifting, it does not mean coronavirus has gone away.

"We all need to keep to the golden rules which have helped keep us safe and keep Wales safe," he said.

The lifting of restrictions coincides with the introduction of 'extended households' - where two households will be able to interact with each other and meet indoors without restrictions.

This means families and friends who live further than five miles apart will be able to meet up again for the first time in months.

"This will allow many friends and close families to be reunited once again, and for many others it will offer vital support with informal child care and with caring responsibilities," said Mr Drakeford.

The First Minister hit out at the UK government in response to suggestion "circulating out of Whitehall" that the devolved administrations held up Westminster's announcement on air bridges, saying that working with the UK government on this was an "utterly shambolic experience."

When asked about whether the two metre rule would continue to be in place, Mr Drakeford said it would remain, despite other nations lowering the distance.

"Two metres remains the safest advice," says the First Minister, although he did add there would be certain circumstances where that would not be possible for practical reasons, but this would only be allowed once all the safeguards were in place.

Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government were pressing the UK government to be flexible with the ending of the furlough scheme.

"We continue to urge the Chancellor not to remove the furlough scheme in a blunt way," said the First Minister.

He added there were parts of the economy - especially the cultural sector or indoor hospitality - where you cannot be confident when they will return, so they will need to have tailored furlough schemes to those industries.