Thanks for following our live updates today.

We're just about done, so here's a reminder of the latest news on the pandemic in Wales:

• The first minister says he's confident a target to vaccinate 70% of the top priority groups by the end of the weekend will be met
• Public Health Wales says 212,317 people had had their first dose at last count - a rise of 21,882 from the previous day
• It's also reported another 67 deaths with the virus in Wales
• Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests infections are levelling off in Wales
• The Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd have given their backing to leader Paul Davies over a row about drinking alcohol in a tearoom after the ban for pubs was in force
• He and three other Senedd members are now being referred to the Welsh Parliament's standards body by the Presiding Officer
• A report says there was a "significant failure" by an exam board and a regulator in not anticipating problems with grading for GCSE and A-level students over the summer

You can continue following the latest Covid developments in Wales, and all the other news updates on BBC Wales News.

We'll be back for the next Covid briefing - until then - stay safe.

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We've had a statement from the Senedd's presiding officer Elin Jones about the drinking of alcohol in a Welsh Parliament tearoom after the pub alcohol ban came into force.

“The commission’s internal investigation has established that alcohol was consumed by five individuals in the Senedd’s licensed tearoom, four of whom are elected members," she says.

“The investigation has concluded that a possible breach of regulations occurred and therefore the chief executive of the Senedd Commission has referred the matter to Cardiff council.

“The regulations in place at the time imposed strict restrictions on members of the public with regard to the consumption of alcohol.

“Given that the possible breach in question occurred as a result of the consumption of alcohol by Members of the Senedd, I have also written to the standards commissioner to ask him to investigate whether these Members acted in accordance with the duty in the code of conduct to conduct themselves in a manner which maintains and strengthens the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of the Senedd.”

Responding to today's Covid briefing by Mark Drakeford, Plaid Cymru's Helen Mary Jones says she understands it's difficult for the Welsh Government to give clarity on when restrictions will change.

But she said it was difficult for people who need to plan ahead.

"It’s really hard for employers to decide whether or not they’re going to give parents furlough so they can home educate," she says.

"Everyone knows this is a volatile situation – so much depends on the government communicating with people accurately, whether that’s the public at large, whether that’s the business sector, the education sector, those people most directly affected."

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Schools may be given two weeks' notice before classrooms are reopened to all pupils, the education minister has said.

Kirsty Williams said officials would be looking to prioritise some pupils' return to class during the pandemic.

Schools are set to remain closed, apart from for vulnerable children and those of key workers, until half-term unless Covid-19 rates fall significantly.

Ms Williams said she hoped to be able to give notice.

The news comes after England's education secretary said he hoped schools would reopen before Easter,and that schools would be given two weeks' notice before reopening.

Image source, Getty Images

The Welsh Conservative group in the Senedd has backed leader Paul Davies.

He'd been facing criticism after being seen drinking alcohol on the Welsh Parliament estate - after the pub alcohol ban had come into force during lockdown.

The party group chair in the Senedd, Janet Finch-Saunders, said in a statement: “The Welsh Conservative group met today to discuss events involving three members of the group on the 8th December.

“The group extended its unanimous support for Paul Davies to continue in his post as leader of the group.”

An investigation into the incident is being carried out by Senedd authorities.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

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The Welsh Government's Technical Advisory Cell says the reproduction (R) number – the rate that infections are estimated to be spreading – remains between 0.8 and 1.1.

This is for 13 January, and is the same estimate as the week before.

It means for every 10 people with the virus in Wales, between eight and 11 more people would be infected.

Based on case numbers only, Public Health Wales estimated the R number to be between 0.88 and 0.91.

The current daily growth rate estimated by the UK's Sage advisory group is between -0.04 and 0.01 in Wales, indicating infections could be shrinking or growing by between -4% and +1% per day.

Image source, PA Media

Away from the first minister's press conference, here's some more data from the Office for National Statistics.

Their latest infection survey says infections have levelled off in Wales in recent weeks.

It took throat and nose swab tests from 20,139 people at random in Wales over six weeks.

From the results, it can estimate that 44,000 people in Wales had Covid-19 in the week to 16 January - about the same as the previous survey a couple of weeks ago.

This is one in 70 people or 1.45% of the population.

But it did find the proportion of new variant of the virus detected had increased.

There was a "significant failure" on the part of the examination and awarding bodies in Wales in not acknowledging or anticipating the problems that would arise with student grades last summer, according to a report.

An independent review, set up the Welsh Government, has found Qualifications Wales and the WJEC exam board would have known the "scale of the outliers" and had "an insight" into the likely numbers of appeals that would arise.

Yet there was a failure to establish a "fair and workable appeals process", according to the report.

Qualifications Wales said it had learned many lessons from 2020, while the WJEC said it would “look in detail at the findings” to find areas where improvements can be made.

The Education Minister Kirsty Williams has welcomed the report.

It comes two days after she announced teachers would again set end-of-year grades this year.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister says he is confident a pledge to vaccinate 70% of over-80s will happen by the end of the weekend.

"The statistics that are published every day have a lag in them," he says.

"They lag a number of days behind the information that we see and track every day as ministers."

"This morning, I will have seen information that tells me that in Powys for example, 16 practices are already sending letters out to people aged over 75 giving them appointments this week.

"I will have seen figures that tell me from Hywel Dda that 46 care homes have now had everybody vaccination complete.

"And I will have seen a set of figures of GP practices in Ceredigion, where vaccination of the over-80s has been finished."

He added: "Because we see the absolutely, up to date, day-by-day data, that is what gives us the confidence to know that by the end of Sunday, 70% of over-80s in care homes will have been offered the vaccine, and the vaccine delivered."

An investigation should be “concluded swiftly” into allegations politicians were drinking alcohol on Senedd premises during the pub alcohol ban, Mark Drakeford says.

The Senedd Commission, the body which runs the institution, is currently investigating claims that three MSs, including the Conservative Senedd group leader Paul Davies, were drinking alcohol three days after the ban.

“There was a single member of staff on duty that evening,” the first minister says.

“I'm very anxious that this does not all result in that person carrying the can for what happened that evening.”

"The idea that the person, the staff member, was to blame seems to me completely incredulous and I very much hope that this does not head in that direction,” he adds.

Image source, PA Media

Mark Drakeford says “things are improving” but he can’t predict when the current coronavirus restrictions will be lifted.

The first minister says the review date for the current restrictions is next Friday and the “first priority will be to get children and young people back into schools and colleges when we have enough headroom to do so”.

But he says overall figures remain high - and adds "there will be marginal headroom next week to lift some of the current restrictions”.

Image source, Getty Images

The first minister paused to reflect on flooding in Wales caused by Storm Christoph, and confirmed financial support will be made available to people affected.

"To support all those affect by flooding the Welsh Government would put in place arrangements to allow local authorities to make support payments of up to £1,000 available per household".

"This is the same level of support available a year ago when storms Ciara and Dennis hit Wales, just before the pandemic".

He said his thoughts were with the people whose homes had been flooded.

Image source, gov.wales

Mark Drakeford says there is cause for concern over new variants of Covid-19.

“We know the new highly contagious strain – sometimes called the Kent variant – is now widespread across Wales,” he says.

He also says the government is closely monitoring three new variant variants: one from South Africa and two from Brazil.

Mr Drakeford says there have been six cases of the South African variant identified in Wales.

“We are not immune at all to changes, which can happen in other parts of the world”

“For all these reasons, we will take a cautious and careful approach towards relaxing the restrictions,” he adds.

The first minister says Covid cases are falling in all areas of Wales.

“Overall, the seven-day case rate for Wales has dropped to around 270 cases per 100,000 people – almost 100 points lower than it was last week,” he said.

And he said the rate was falling in all health board areas, including north Wales.

But he warned around 16% of tests were coming back positive and this suggested there was still a lot of infection in the community.

The First Minister Mark Drakeford has started his latest Covid briefing with the news that 212,317 people have had their first vaccine.

He says the Welsh Government is on target “to hit our first milestone” of offering vaccination to its first four priority groups by mid-February.

“There is a massive amount of work going on in Wales to make this happen,” he says.

A reminder that the deaths reported every day by Public Health Wales didn't actually happen on that day.

The 67 further deaths announced today could have happened in previous days and weeks.

And looking at the days deaths actually occurred - which is the most reliable way - the 13 worst days during the pandemic have all been in the second pandemic wave.

The worst single day was New Year’s Day, with 55 deaths.

There have also been more than 50 deaths on six days since 30 December.

In the week to 18 January, the rolling average is 38 deaths a day.

The first minister's press conference is due to start in a few minutes.

You can follow live updates and reaction here.

And if you'd like to watch it, you can click on the link at the top of this page once it has started.

Image source, Welsh Government