Free lateral flow tests in Wales could come to an end within three months.
Speaking at a press conference where he announced an end to mask wearing in shops and compulsory Covid isolation, First Minster Mark Drakeford admitted that free LFTs could be a thing of the past soon. Since they were introduced lateral flows have enabled people to quickly check if they are likely to have Covid thereby reducing the long delays that were associated with PCR tests. You can find out how to order lateral flow tests in Wales here.
WalesOnline asked the First Minister when he expected free lateral flows to end in Wales. Mr Drakeford said that he couldn't give a concrete date at this point but that he couldn't guarantee them past the end of June.
Read more: Full updates of the Mark Drakeford press conference
"We intend with the budget to be got available to us currently to continue them into June," he said. "At that point, I hope we will have final clarity from the UK Government of the budgets that may come to Wales to deal with the coronavirus impact in the next financial year beginning in only a week's time, we still don't have that clarity."
The First Minister added that he would like to keep providing them if possible but that it would be challenging without assistance from the UK Government. He said: "If we are in a position to go on providing tests beyond June and certainly if the context were to demand it then that is what we would wish to do. But it is a mixture of the availability of the tests on the one hand and the availability of the funding needed to sustain a testing regime beyond June. We are using our own resources to keep them in place for longer than they are available elsewhere. And then we will have to make an assessment based on the capacity we have beyond that date."
People will also no longer have to wear masks in shops or on public transport in Wales from Monday, March 28, despite hospitalisations at the highest rate in 2022 and skyrocketing cases. There were 30,712 positive test results reported in the last seven days. That's up substantially from 21,212 the previous week and the highest weekly figure ever recorded. To get the latest updates on Welsh politics in our daily Wales Matters email, sign up here.
