HEALTH minister Vaughan Gething has said there is "a very real risk" that the NHS would be overwhelmed without the ‘fire-break’ action being taken.

Scientific experts in Wales have calculated that the number of Covid-19 infections is growing by four per cent each day in Wales, with an estimated 2,500 daily infections.

Mr Gething told a press conference in Cardiff there were 894 people in hospital with coronavirus - up more than a quarter (26 per cent) from last week.

"This is the highest that is has been since June this year," Mr Gething said.

There are 43 people in critical care with COVID-19, which is 72 per cent higher than last week and amounting to one in four critical care beds across Wales.

The Welsh Labour MS said "worryingly high levels of infection" are being seen in the older population of the country.

He said the "firebreak", which comes into force in Wales at 6pm on Friday, is designed to reduce transmission of coronavirus as much as possible by preventing household, workplace and social contacts.

He continued: "We've chosen to make the firebreak as short as possible but to be as effective as possible, it needs to be sharp and deep, including all parts of society, to have a maximum impact on the transmission of the virus.

"Most importantly, it needs to target the main sources of transmission - places where people meet with other people."

Mr Gething said the estimated R value - the number of people each coronavirus case infects - in Wales was between 1.1 and 1.4 but could be driven down to below one with the "firebreak".

"This will slow the spread of the virus, reducing the infection rate, which ultimately means fewer people needing hospital treatment and fewer people dying," he said.

Asked by the Leader about a benchmark for success, Mr Gething explains that Welsh Government expect it to be ‘around a couple of weeks’ after the fire-break ends that any clear results will come to light but says that the R number should fall below 1.

He stresses however that a national effort will be needed to make this short, sharp shock to the virus a real success.