WALES’S Labour government moved decisively to tackle the spread of coronavirus today with a two-week “fire break,” during which people must stay in their homes.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the lockdown will take effect at 6pm on Friday and end on Monday November 9.

He said there was a “very real risk” that the NHS would be overwhelmed if such measures were not taken to slow the spread of Covid-19 in Wales.

The Welsh measures include no outdoor gatherings, closure of all non-food retail businesses, and instructing people to stay at home except for essential purposes.

Mr Drakeford said £300 million in extra funding for businesses affected will be provided, on top of funding from Westminster.

“This fire break is our best chance of regaining control of the virus and avoiding a much longer — and damaging — national lockdown,” he said.

“We must come together once again to stay ahead of this virus and to save lives.”

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said: “A fire break is a last resort and should only be used in an emergency. We are now in an emergency.”

The action is in stark contrast to the UK government’s piecemeal three-tier regional restrictions and its refusal to sufficiently protect workers and businesses in areas of England worst-affected by the restrictions.

Rifts have appeared in the Tory ranks over the continued row between the Westminster government and Greater Manchester, where leaders are resisting attempts to move it into Tier 3 without sufficient financial support to workers and businesses.

Senior Conservatives, including the influential chairman of the back-bench 1922 committee Sir Graham Brady, have backed Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham’s call for more funding.

The British Chambers of Commerce also told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that any new lockdown restrictions must come with “truly commensurate” financial support or risk “catastrophic economic consequences.”

Mr Burnham wants the original furlough scheme, which paid 80 per cent of the wages of laid-off workers, to continue, and has rejected Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s replacement scheme, which pays only 67 per cent of wages.

The government is threatening to “enforce” a Tier-3 lockdown if the impasse continues.

Mr Burnham has pressed for a Commons vote to break the deadlock. He said: “This is not just a Greater Manchester issue.”