(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 enables the Welsh Ministers, by regulations, to make provision for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination in Wales.
These Regulations are made in response to the threat to public health which is posed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wales.
These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1609 (W. 335)) (“the principal Regulations”) to provide that those Regulations expire at the end of the day on 18 April 2022 (rather than 28 March 2022).
The principal Regulations continue to provide that no alert level applies to Wales. This means that none of the restrictions and requirements in Schedules 1 to 4 to the principal Regulations applies (and if future regulations were to move Wales to any of alert levels 1 to 4, the restrictions and requirements in Schedules 1 to 4 to the principal Regulations could be amended before taking effect).
These Regulations also amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Functions of Local Authorities etc.) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1011 (W. 235)) to change their expiry date to 18 April 2022.
The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. In accordance with the Code, a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely cost and benefit of complying with these Regulations has not been carried out, due to the need to put them in place urgently.