Tier 4 restrictions may be necessary for ‘couple of months’ says UK health secretary
People shopping on Oxford Street in central London before the new restrictions come in (PA)
Sun, 20 Dec, 2020 - 11:44
Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor
Restrictions which forced millions of people across the UK to tear up their Christmas plans may have to remain for “the next couple of months”, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has suggested.
In England, Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for almost 18 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England as the region was put into a new two-week lockdown from Sunday.
Under the new Tier 4 rules non-essential shops – as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers – have to stay shut and people are limited to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.
Covid-19: Our duty to act over Christmas plans, says Matt Hancock
Published
media captionMatt Hancock: If you act like you have the virus, that will stop the virus from spreading to others
The government does not want to cancel Christmas but it is our duty to act as a new coronavirus variant is out of control , the health secretary says.
A strict new lockdown in London, the South East and east of England could last for months, Matt Hancock said.
The figure is nearly twice the number of cases - 18,447 - reported a week ago.
However, it is thought the infection rate was higher during the first peak in spring, with testing capacity too limited at the time to detect the true number of daily cases.
The country s Christmas plans have been drastically scaled back amid surging coronavirus cases. Credit: PA
Millions of people across London, the south-east of England and Wales have entered a third lockdown as tier 4 restrictions came into force in the two nations amid surging Covid-19 cases.
While Christmas has effectively been cancelled for almost 18 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England, with households banned from mixing indoors and outdoors with others, the rest of the country faces a much scaled-back festive period.
On Saturday, Boris Johnson and the leaders of Wales and Scotland announced that the previous three households, five days rule was being ripped up and households only able to form bubble for Christmas Day only.
Christmas plans have been left in tatters amid new Covid curbs as some airlines refuse to refund passengers for trips they can no longer take.
Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for almost 18 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England as the region was put into a new two-week lockdown from Sunday.
Under the new Tier 4 rules non-essential shops - as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers - have to stay shut and people are limited to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.
Those in Tier 4 were told they should not travel out of the region, while those outside were advised against visiting.
And members of the Covid Recovery Group of MPs sceptical about lockdowns said the measures were failing to halt the spread of the virus. Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Sir Charles said: “I suspect the Government knew they were going to cancel Christmas on Wednesday and Thursday when they were still telling the House of Commons they planned to press ahead.
“I think many colleagues find that extremely egregious. The Christmas period was passed into law by the House of Commons in a vote after a debate.
“The view of most colleagues was that to be changed, another vote would be required in the House of Commons. So I suspect a decision was delayed until we were safely away back to our constituencies.”