The last activity update I received from Newport was 3rd of April. The office is open but with very limited number of staff. The reasons that applications sent to Newport are processed slower than other offices is, firstly, that Newport is in Wales where the lockdown is still (wisely) enforced; secondly, Newport was hit by the virus worse than other cities with a passport office (some say it’s because more test were taken there so the higher number of cases is because of that – but this doesn’t change the fact that Newport had that number of infected residents).