Some primary school pupils, along with students taking vocational courses, could return to classrooms in Wales after the February half-term as long as the Covid infection rate continues to fall, but the end of the lockdown in other aspects of life is still many weeks away, the Welsh government has said. The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, said a “phased and flexible” return to school for some pupils was being planned for the week beginning 22 February. He said the youngest children might be the first to return, as it was difficult for them to learn remotely and they were the least likely to catch the infection and pass it on. But he said the Labour cabinet was also keen to get students sitting qualifications, especially vocational ones, back as quickly as possible. Drakeford went against the call of the UK Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, for teachers to be vaccinated at half-term, insisting the Welsh government would follow the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice on who should receive their jabs first. He said parents would not be forced to send children back to school if they did not feel it was safe, and revealed summer schools might be arranged for some pupils to catch up. But Drakeford warned the fast-changing nature of the virus meant plans might have to be revised. “When it is safe to do so, we will bring more children back, and I’d like to see it build up as quickly as it is safe to do so, but you can only judge that in the circumstances at the time.” As expected, the lockdown in Wales, which began before Christmas, will stay in place for at least another three weeks. Falling infection rates in Wales mean that two minor “easements” are being made over support bubbles and exercise. People will now be able to exercise with one person from another household – while remaining local. This has been brought in after women said they felt nervous going out alone in the dark. Citizens who have been allowed to form a support bubble with another household will be able to “dissolve” that arrangement and form a different bubble provided they leave a 10-day gap. Drakeford, however, made it clear that there was “unlikely to be much headroom” for more restrictions in Wales to be lifted at the time of the next review on 19 February. Asked whether activities and sports such as fishing, golf and tennis might resume, he said: “Every bit that you do creates new opportunities for people to get together and when people get together, coronavirus thrives.” Drakeford took a couple of swipes at the UK government. Asked whether he would welcome Boris Johnson to Wales following his controversial trip to Scotland, Drakeford said he was only leaving Cardiff when there was a genuine emergency. He said: “On the whole I think it is preferable for people who make rules that we expect other people to observe to observe them ourselves.” The first minister also argued that UK ministers had done “the least they thought they could get away with” when they drew up plans to tighten up the UK border to drive down Covid cases. Asked whether he could envisage the UK being closed off for six months or the rest of the year, he said: “I can envisage that. I did say in a meeting with the UK government this smacked again of the UK government doing the least they thought they could get away with rather than the most that needed to be done.”