The First Minister will tomorrow (Friday) set out how Wales plans to move back to alert level zero if the public health situation continues to improve.

Mark Drakeford will set out the two-week plan to ease the alert level two restrictions which have been in place since Boxing Day at his press conference.

The Welsh Government is able to start removing the protections put in place in response to the omicron wave, thanks to the support of people across Wales and the successful booster campaign – more than 1.75m people have had the extra booster dose.

The move to alert level zero will be phased, with restrictions on outdoor activities being removed first.

Ahead of tomorrow’s Welsh Government review of coronavirus restrictions, the Welsh Conservatives are calling on Labour ministers to:

• Scrap two-metre distancing and the rule-of-six in Welsh hospitality;

• Remove restrictions on fans at sports grounds and outdoor activities such as Parkrun;

• Make more money available for the businesses that have suffered due to Labour’s response to Omicron;

• Reduce the self-isolation period from seven to five full days (following negative lateral flow tests on day five and at the start of the first day following the end of isolation)

• Commit to holding weekly reviews until all restrictions have been lifted.

Welsh Conservatives believe that such decisions would move us closer to living with coronavirus as an endemic disease, and will reduce pressure on public services, free up society, improve mental and physical health, and get the economy moving.

This lunchtime, Sajid Javid MP has cut the self-isolation period to five days in England from Monday as data from the UK Health Security Agency suggests two-thirds of people are no longer infectious at day five.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS said: “It is good to see the Labour Government has u-turned on its attempt to avoid justifying why its rules are in place and have kept to weekly reviews. This should stay in place until all rules have scrapped as any limits on our freedoms should have to be proven to be necessary regularly.

“Labour ministers must use tomorrow to scrap their economically cruel and clinically unnecessary rules on businesses so they can recover from the restrictions they imposed on Wales in recent weeks, whilst increasing compensation for those firms hit.

“The nonsensical and bizarre rules on watching and participating in sports must be scrapped given the negative effects on physical and mental health, let alone their perverse consequences, which is evident in pushing people indoors to watch games instead.

“The First Minister must also explore reducing the self-isolation period from seven to five days, particularly as the scientific data shows most people aren’t infectious after five days. This will ease workforce pressure in our public services, boost the economy, and move us towards living with the virus.

“Labour’s response to Omicron has been proven to be a mistake and they’ve decided to keep the strictest possible restrictions in place in the UK to save face, no matter the consequences for the finances of businesses and the mental wellbeing of people across the nation.

“Ministers have made Wales an outlier which has put livelihoods at risk. They must now change course and at the very minimum tomorrow publish a roadmap out of restrictions.”

Speaking about the current restrictions on outdoor sporting events, following news that Wales may be “turning a corner” on the latest coronavirus wave, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: “Being proportionate and appearing to be fair has to be an essential part of regulation – for that reason, especially if we have reached the peak in cases, the limit on outdoor sporting events must now be lifted.

“The benefits of taking part in events such as parkruns and watching sports outside in the fresh air surely outweighs the risks?”