News
BD update: Wales National Lockdown
- Written By: British Dressage
- Published: Mon, 19 Oct 2020 16:30
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakesford announced earlier today that all of Wales will enter a ‘time limited firebreak’ lockdown, with effect from 6.00pm on Friday 23 October for a period of 17 days, ending on Monday 9 November.
During this time, the following restrictions will apply:
- People must stay at home, except for very limited purposes, such as exercise.
- People must work from home wherever possible, unless they are unable to do so.
- People must not visit other households or meet other people they do not live with at any time, whether indoors or outdoors.
- All non-essential retail, hospitality and leisure businesses must close for the duration of the lockdown period.
- This includes cafes, restaurants and pubs (unless they provide take-away or delivery services), close contact services, such as hairdressers and beauticians, as well as events and tourism businesses, such as hotels.
- Community centres, libraries and recycling centres will also be required to close.
- No gatherings will be allowed outdoors, such as Halloween or fireworks/Bonfire night or other organised activities.
- Face coverings must be worn in indoor public spaces, which remain open, including on public transport and in taxis.Primary and special schools will reopen as normal after the half-term week, along with secondary schools for children in years seven and eight only.
Unfortunately, in line with these restrictions, all organised in-person British Dressage training and competition activity will be suspended temporarily for the duration of the lockdown (as of 6.00pm on 23 October and restarting on 9 November). Remote training and online competitions will be able to continue during this period.
Exercise should start and end at home, although there are no constraints on duration or distance. However, there are practical limits on what people may do imposed by the stay at home order and the closure of non-essential businesses.
No specific details have yet been released regarding travel to care for and exercise horses, but as per previous guidance during the first national lockdown we would anticipate that this would be classified as essential travel.
Jason Brautigam, Chief Executive of British Dressage; “I’m sure that all members in Wales will be as frustrated as we are that we’ve once again had to put activity on hold. However, it’s vitally important that we continue to follow the restrictions and play our part to help minimise the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We would urge everyone to comply fully so this short circuit breaker has every chance of success.
“As difficult as this is for everyone, we are hoping that this will be just a temporary setback for just over two weeks before activity can once again resume. We will be working closely with our venues, organisers, coaches and officials to ensure that we can comply with any additional mitigations required for a successful restart. In the meantime, we thank all of our members in Wales for their cooperation, support and understanding.”
We will share any updates from the Welsh government, Sport Wales and the Welsh Sports Association as soon as they become available.
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