SHIELDING measures are set to change for thousands of people in Wales this week.

Across the UK, four million people were asked to shield to protect themselves from the serious side effects of Covid-19, but this will be paused as of Thursday.

Shielding measures will come to end for 130,000 people in Wales today.

An initial list of 2.2 million clinically extremely vulnerable people were advised to take the strict measures between March and August to avoid potential infection.

It was re-introduced in December when Wales entered another national lockdown and earlier this year, a further 1.7 million across the UK were added to the list.

This meant that they should not attend work or school and should remain at home as much as possible.

However, as the lockdown rules begin to be eased, shielding will come to an end on April 1.

This means from 1 April those who have been shielding can go to work - if you cannot work from home and children who have been following shielding measures can return to school.

As the vaccination programme continues, the Government said everyone on the Shielding Patient List has been offered the Covid-19 vaccine.

Chief Medical Officer Frank Atherton said: "As shielding measures are paused, people on the shielding patient list can return to work.

"If you are preparing to head back into work because you are unable to work from home I'd encourage you to complete a Covid-19 workforce assessment and have an early discussion with your employer.

"This will help put your mind at ease about any worries you may have, so you can be sure that it's safe for you to go back.

"We've provided clear advice to employers about the arrangements that they should have in place. You can find advice and information on keeping yourself safe in my recent letter to you and on our gov.wales website."