Rhondda Cynon Taf in South Wales to go into local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday

Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government has announced.

The local authority area’s incidence rate hit 82.1 per 100,000 people over the past seven days.

The increase goes well above the infection rate of 50 per 100,000 people the West government marked as the threshold.

Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases, Health Minister Vaughan Gething has announced

The borough follows the introduction of Wales’ first local lockdown in Caerphilly, which came into effect on September 8. 

New rules being imposed on Rhondda Cynon Taf, which stretches from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons, will mean residents can no longer meet other households indoors or have overnight stays.

Like Caerphilly, no one will be allowed to leave the council area without a ‘reasonable excuse’, which includes work. 

Everyone aged over 11 must wear a face mask in shops if they are, with an 11pm curfew coming into place on pubs and other licensed premises.

Meetings between different households are still allowed to take place outdoors.

The Welsh Government said the new restrictions would apply to everyone living in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.

They follow a ‘rapid increase’ in the number of Covid-19 cases, which have been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from holidays abroad, it said.

Further measures will be considered by the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, if cases do not fall.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said: ‘We have seen a rapid rise in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short space of time, linked to people socialising indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

‘We now have evidence of wider community transmission in the borough, which means we need to take urgent action to control and, ultimately, reduce the spread of the virus and protect people’s health.’