LOCKDOWN restrictions in Caerphilly county borough will remain in place for at least another seven days, the leader and chief executive of the council have said.

Council leader, Cllr Philippa Marsden and chief executive, Christina Harrhy, said the council will prepare exit plans over the coming days, but warned the borough remains “at a critical stage” in fighting coronavirus.

Caerphilly became the first area in Wales to go into local lockdown on September 8.

In a joint statement on Thursday, Cllr Marsden and Ms Harrhy said: “Following a meeting with the first minister today, we have agreed that our restrictions will remain in place for at least another seven days.

“We also agreed to develop our exit plan over the next week, working with Welsh Government and partner colleagues, in readiness for our next formal seven day review period.

“This is a positive step, but we still have further work to do before we are able to relax our restrictions.”

The rate of infection per 100,000 of the population in Caerphilly has dropped from more than 100 to around 50 over recent weeks.

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Cllr Marsden and Ms Harrhy added that the collective effort of residents is “making a difference and there is light at the end of the tunnel”.

However before restrictions can be relaxed, they said the number of cases needs to reduce further.

“As we develop our exit plan over the next few days, the challenge facing us – and all the other lockdown areas – is how we agree an exit strategy that allows us to get our restrictions lifted in a safe and sustainable way,” they added.

“Lifting the restrictions is the easy bit – if we simply return to what we were doing prior to the local restrictions being imposed, the infection rate will rise and we will simply be put back into another lockdown.

“None of us want this – so it is within our gift to ensure this does not happen.”

The Welsh Government has been contacted.