Part of the Brecon Beacons National Park is to be affected by the local lockdown beginning tonight in Rhondda Cynon Taff.

These areas include some of the Waterfalls area and waterfalls car parks including Dinas Rock which you cannot visit without reasonable excuse. If you live OUTSIDE the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough boundaries you will not be able to access this area until the lock down is lifted, although you will be able to drive through the area without stopping.

Publicity about the restrictions in the National Park has been scant thanks to the cyber attack on the Park’s IT system which took place over the weekend.

Coronavirus laws are being tightened in Rhondda Cynon Taf Council area following a sharp increase in cases of the virus, Health Minister Vaughan Gething has confirmed.

A range of new measures will come into force from 6pm today, to protect people’s health and control the spread of the virus in the area and people will not be allowed to enter or leave the Rhondda Cynon Taf Council area without a reasonable excuse

Other guidelines say say that:

everyone over 11 will be required to wear face coverings in indoor public areas – as is the case across Wales

people will only be able to meet outdoors for the time being.

People will not be able to meet members of their extended household indoors or form an extended household

all licensed premises will have to close at 11pm.

The new restrictions will apply to everyone living within the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.

The restrictions are being introduced following a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in coronavirus, which have been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from summer holidays overseas.

They will be kept under regular review but if cases do not fall, the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, will consider further measures.

The very latest figures show the rolling seven-day new case rate is 82.1 per 100,000 people in Rhondda Cynon Taf. Yesterday, the testing positivity rate was 4.3% – this is the highest positivity rate in Wales.

Contact tracing teams have been able to trace about half of the cases back to a series of clusters in the borough. The rest are linked to community transmission.

There are a number of clusters in Rhondda Cynon Taf – two of which are significant. One is associated with a rugby club and pub in the lower Rhondda and the other with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way.

The new measures will be kept under regular review and enforcement of the new restrictions will be undertaken by the local authority and by the police.