Relaxation of Covid restrictions over Christmas reduced to just Christmas Day

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a major change to the relaxation of the Covid restrictions over Christmas in a press conference yesterday (19 December).

The planned relaxation of restrictions for up to three households to form a ‘Christmas bubble’ has been reduced from five days to Christmas Day only.

This means that friends and families can now only meet on Christmas Day, rather than from 23-27 December as previously announced.

Christmas bubbles will be able to gather in private homes, attend places of worship together and meet in outdoor public places.

Beyond this, the government says people should continue to follow all other local restrictions in the area and are reminded to take care to limit the spread of the virus.
 

Read more: Friends and loved ones can get together over the Christmas periodPublished: 25 November 2020

New Tier 4 restrictions were also announced for London, the South East, and parts of eastern England.

The tougher restrictions are in place from today (20 December) and mean that people living in these areas cannot socialise with people outside their household or bubble, even on Christmas Day, and travel into and out of a Tier 4 area is not allowed, unless essential.

The prime minister said that the spread of the virus in many parts of south-east England is now "being driven by a new variant of the virus".

He said that there is no evidence that the new variant causes more severe illness or higher mortality.

"It may be up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant," he says, although the data is still being reviewed.

 

 

At the press conference, Prof Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer said: "The UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance."

He said that there has been a "dramatic increase" in the proportion of cases that come from the new variant in certain areas and the places with the variant have had higher increases in hospitalisations - a 36% increase in eastern England, 34% in London, and 28% in south-eastern England.

He said that in the North West, North East, and Yorkshire, there has been no increase in the hospitalisation rate, however, "given this latest development it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission."

 

 

The new variant was first seen in mid-September in London and Kent and by December it had become the dominant variant in London.

In the week beginning 18 November, the variant accounted for around one in four cases in London, the South East, and eastern England.

By the week beginning 9 December, that had risen to 62% in London, 59% in eastern England, and 43% in the South East.

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More information about Christmas bubbles can be found via the government's website.