FIRST minister Mark Drakeford has said he expects the coronavirus lockdown measures to continue beyond the original three-week period.

Speaking this afternoon at the Welsh Government’s daily press briefing, Mr Drakeford said there had been “some signs the measures are having a positive impact”, but admitted things may get worse before they got better.

He called for an urgent Cobra meeting to review the lockdown measures, and said any decision on future measures should be made by the UK’s four governments.

Mr Drakeford also said it would be "foolish to throw away the enormous efforts people had made" so far in slowing the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Everything suggests to me a further period of restraint will be necessary,” he added.

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The first minister’s briefing came shortly before Public Health Wales announced the latest figures – that, since Sunday, there had been another 27 confirmed deaths and 302 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wales.

In Gwent, the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area remains the worst-hit in Wales, with 1,103 total cases – nearly one-third of the Welsh total (3,499).

Mr Drakeford said emergency workers from Gwent would be the first in Wales offered a Covid-19 test at a new coronavirus testing station, set up at the Cardiff City Stadium, from Tuesday.

Since the start of the outbreak in Wales, he added, NHS Wales had doubled its critical care capacity, pledged to bring in 7,000 more hospital beds, and arranged for 1,000 new ventilators – which the first minister said were “on their way”.

The Welsh Government has also announced free childcare for essential workers whose children are aged under five.

This week marks the start of a new legal obligation in Wales for employers to ensure social-distancing guidelines are being followed in the workplace.

Mr Drakeford said the law would be largely "self-enforced".

"Employers must take all reasonable measures... but it's not an absolute ban [on staff being two metres apart]," he said, adding that “the best enforcers are the workers themselves".

The first minister said the new law was a response to the Welsh Government "getting too many reports of people feeling unsafe in the workplace".

He also sent warm wishes to UK prime minister Boris Johnson, who was taken to hospital on Sunday for tests after failing to recover from Covid-19 infection.

Speaking today, Mr Johnson said he was “in good spirits”.

Mr Drakeford wished him “a speedy recovery” and hoped Mr Johnson’s hospital stay would be “as short as necessary”.