The Welsh government is “actively considering” imposing quarantine restrictions on people travelling into Wales from areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus.
First minister Mark Drakeford had previously called on Boris Johnson to introduce travel restrictions for people in areas of England under local lockdown.
In Wales, people must not enter or leave an area subjected to such restrictions without a reasonable excuse – which does not include travelling for a holiday.
Health minister Vaughan Gething told a press conference: “We’re actively considering what we should do and I’ve discussed it this morning with the first minister.
“We have quarantine regulations for international travel.
“So for some of the hotspot areas in the north of England – the north-east and north-west, and the West Midlands – if they were other countries or territories, we would have quarantine regulations for them to return to the UK.”
It comes after the weekly rate of new Covid-19 cases soared in dozens of areas of England, following the addition of nearly 16,000 cases that went unreported because of a technical error with an Excel spreadsheet.
The problem has led to a delay in efforts by NHS Test and Trace to find the contacts of those who tested positive for the virus, in some cases by around a week.