covid-19 pandemic in wales covid-19 pandemic in wales the covid-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to wales on 28 february 2020, with a case being reported in the swansea area; this first known case was a person who had recently returned from italy. the first known case of community transmission was reported on 11 march in the caerphilly area. for the covid-19 pandemic in the uk as a whole, see covid-19 pandemic in the united kingdom. covid-19 pandemic in walescases per 10k in wales as of 11 march 2021 diseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationwalesfirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, chinaindex casecaerphillyarrival date28 february 2020 (2020-02-28) – 5 may 2023 (2023-05-05)(3 years and 3 months)confirmed cases874,232hospitalised cases34637,186ventilator cases31 (active, as of 28 december 2021)recoveredno datadeaths6,913 (deaths within 28 days of positive test, up to 13 february 2022)9,102 (deaths with covid-19 on the death certificate by date of death, up to 10 december 2021)fatality rate202.6 (death rate per 100,000 who died within 28 days of the first positive test)279.5 (death rate per 100,000 whose death certificate mentioned covid-19)government websitegov.wales/coronavirus part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicin the united kingdom, british overseas territories and crown dependencies history responses legislation statistics (part of the global covid-19 pandemic) locations london countries england scotland wales northern ireland crown dependencies guernsey isle of man jersey british overseas territories anguilla akrotiri and dhekelia bermuda british indian ocean territory british virgin islands cayman islands falkland islands gibraltar montserrat saint helena, ascension and tristan da cunha turks and caicos islands pitcairn islands british overseas territories without confirmed cases british antarctic territory south georgia and the south sandwich islands timelines united kingdom january-june 2020 july–december 2020 january-june 2021 july–december 2021 january-june 2022 july-december 2022 2023 england january-june 2020 july–december 2020 2021 2022 scotland 2020 2021 2022 wales 2020 2021 2022 northern ireland 2020 2021 2022 key topics healthcare vaccination temporary hospitals covid passports responses government response contract controversies lockdown public inquiry contact tracing military (domestic, overseas) impacts society economy education politics retail covid-19 portal category wide-ranging restrictions began on many aspects of life in the second half of march 2020; restrictions were relaxed in wales during the summer once the first wave of virus had passed. in the autumn of that year, with cases rising, restrictions began to be tightened again with individual areas being placed under localised lockdowns. a two-week complete "circuit-breaker" lockdown began in late october. rising cases and a new variant of the virus led to restrictions being increased again in december. the rollout of covid-19 vaccinations and a fall in cases led to restrictions being relaxed in the spring and summer. restrictions were briefly tightened and relaxed at around the end of 2021 due to a new variant of the virus. most covid-19 related legal restrictions concluded in wales by the end of march and much of the infrastructure built up around managing the virus was wound down by the middle of 2022. many aspects of the response to covid-19 were the responsibility of the devolved welsh government. health is a devolved matter in scotland, wales and northern ireland. though healthcare is largely run by the state across the uk (through nhs wales in the welsh case) with some private and charitable provision, policy and outcomes vary. there was a conservative government in westminster, and a labour led government in cardiff; this ideological divide may have contributed to variances in approach. timeline