A "big bang" approach to unlocking coronavirus restrictions in Wales could lead to a rise in infections and the emergence of new variants.

That was the position of the Welsh Government's Education Minister when she was challenged to justify the slow and steady unlocking of measures every three weeks as the rate of the virus continues to fall in most parts of Wales.

On March 15, Wales is expected to move from "stay at home" guidance to "stay local".

Speaking at Monday's coronavirus conference in Cardiff, Kirsty Williams said "a big bang approach to unlocking measures and having people travel everywhere" would not be taken in Wales as it could undo all the progress made since the latest lockdown came into force in December.

Wales currently has a seven-day rate of 45 cases per 100,000, while a total of 998,296 first doses and 183,739 second doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been given.

"Those figures have been hard won by the Welsh public," said Ms Williams.

"We need to follow the advice so that we do not undo the hard work. We want to ensure that when we unlock we do so on a permanent basis, not find ourselves in a situation where we will see cases rise quickly and potentially hospital admissions rise again.

"Any unlocking must be done carefully, it must be done cautiously, so it will allow us to monitor the impact of community spread."

She added that situations where the virus spreads rapidly can lead to new variants.

She also said the situation varied throughout Wales, with areas like Pembrokshire and Ceredigion have much lower rates than parts of North Wales.

Ms Williams added: "We are at a critical juncture in the management of this pandemic, where there is much to be hopeful and optimistic about, but it could be easily thrown away by an incautious approach to unlocking.

"Any decision to move from a stay at home message to a stay local message is part of that cautious approach of beginning to unlock measures, and doing so in a way where we can monitor the impact of that before moving to the next stage."

On Sunday, First Minister Mark Drakeford said the Welsh Government is looking carefully this at whether a requirement to stay local is necessary.

Speaking to the BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement he said he felt there was a case for an intermediate stage between the current rules and people being able to travel freely across Wales.

He said: "I think there is a case for an intermediate step between stay at home and being able to travel anywhere across Wales.

"We will be looking carefully at whether an intermediate period of stay local would be the first step in a journey, remembering that in Wales that is how we are trying to approach the whole business; carefully, step by step, not doing too many things at once so we can monitor the impact of changes, and then restoring more freedoms to people and the economy once it's safe to do so."

The next Welsh Government review of lockdown measures will be announced on Friday, March 12.