Wales could return to a full lockdown with people being told to stay at home again by the end of this week.
The strict March-style shut down – known as a ‘firebreak’ – is one of the options being considered this morning with a decision expected to be announced later.
A leaked letter from the transport industry in Wales suggested it would last for two weeks from 6pm on October 23 until November 9.
The director of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, John Pockett, wrote the measures will ‘take us back to the situation in March’ but later said he was only ‘assuming’ what would happen.
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His letter said he expects non-essential shops to close along with all pubs, bars and restaurants. People would be advised to only make essential journeys.
One of the weeks being considered for the lockdown would fall over half term. Some primary schools would be allowed to reopen in the second week while a decision is yet to be made on secondary schools, according to the letter.
If introduced, the measures would be some of the strictest seen in any part of the UK since the national lockdown was eased in May.
Non-essential shops have so far been allowed to remain open since they were permitted to operate again in early June.
No local lockdown has forced retail to close down since Leicester became the first place to be put under local measures at the end of June.
A final decision is expected to be announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford at around midday.
The Welsh Government is demanding more support from Westminster to protect jobs and businesses ahead of introducing the new measures.
Vaughan Gething said the furlough scheme ends on October 31 and will be replaced by the UK Government with a ‘less generous’ Job Support Scheme.
He told the BBC’s Politics Wales show the Welsh Government is ‘arguing’ with ministers in London that a ‘more certain and more generous package’ is needed.
From November 1 the UK Government will pay 67% of wages – up to a maximum of £2,100 a month – for each employee.
Staff must be off work for a minimum of seven days to be eligible, and their employer does not have to pay towards their salary.
Under the current furlough scheme workers get up to 80% of their pay – 20% from their employer and 60% from the Government.
Mr Gething said the decision on what the lockdown will involve is yet to be taken but the Welsh Government is having a ‘range of conversations with stakeholders’ to understand what the it might look like.
‘It would be extraordinary that we weren’t talking to a range of people in Wales and also the UK Government,’ he told the BBC.
‘Part of the challenge is that support for jobs and businesses is going to change on November 1 and it will be a less generous scheme and it will only be available if businesses are legally required to close.
‘It is a matter of fact that the new support scheme available from November 1 is less generous than the furlough scheme.
‘That’s the reality we are having to deal with, while trying to argue with the UK Government that a more certain and more generous package is needed if we are going to have the desired effect of any national intervention of any kind to reduce transmission rates while protecting people’s livelihoods as far as possible.’
Mr Drakeford said last week that local lockdowns in force across 17 areas of Wales – affecting more than 2.3 million people – have not slowed the spread of the virus enough.
A travel ban preventing people from areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus from entering Wales came into force on Friday.
There were a further 950 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Wales yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 35,628.
Public Health Wales said three further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic rising to 1,711.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: ‘The measures we have put in place at both a local and a national level, with help from the people of Wales, have kept the spread of Covid-19 under check.
‘However, there is a growing consensus we now need to introduce a different set of measures and actions to respond to the virus as it continues to spread across Wales more quickly during the autumn and winter months ahead.
‘Ministers have held a number of meetings over the weekend with senior Welsh Government officials, scientists and public health experts to consider their advice on a potential need for a “fire break” set of measures to control the virus.
He said the cabinet is meeting this morning to make a final decision.
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