Boris Johnson’s prediction that the UK could return to normality by Christmas is a “pretty sunny view of circumstances”, Wales’s First Minister has said.

Mark Drakeford warned that it may not be possible to continue relaxing measures into the winter months, referring to reports that have predicted a “worse experience” than in the spring due to colder and darker conditions.

On Friday, Mr Drakeford was asked about Mr Johnson’s comments at the Welsh Government’s final Covid-19 daily press briefing of the summer.

He said: “In relation to the Prime Minister’s view that everything might be back to normal by Christmas, I must say I do think you have to take a pretty sunny view of circumstances to think that might be true.

“We’ve just been talking about the Academy of Royal Colleges report that said we could be in for a worse experience in the winter than we had in the spring because of the way that this virus circulates and operates.

“Where we are able to, we will go on unlocking lockdown measures in Wales and return us to something that looks a bit more like things were before the virus hit.

“Can we be confident that in the depths of winter we’ll still be in a position to go on doing that?

“I think you have to take a pretty optimistic view of the advice we have had to think that is a realistic proposition.”