Covid-19 guidelines UK: Experts urge the government to ban household mixing at Christmas
Experts are warning that the Government should reverse the rash decision to allow household mixing to avoid a likely third wave
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The Government is coming under increasing pressure to rethink the planned easing of coronavirus restrictions over the Christmas period after two leading medical journals warned the move would cost many lives .
Urgent talks are taking place between the leaders of the devolved administrations and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove as calls mount to scrap plans for an easing of Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon argued there is a case for lessening the planned freedoms for the festive period to combat a rise in infections and indicated she could break with the four-nations approach.
But her Welsh counterpart Mark Drakeford said the current plans were a “hard-won agreement” and that he will “not lightly put it aside” ahead of the meeting on Tuesday.
The meeting was due to take place after two leading medical journals warned that a lessening of restrictions would “cost many lives” and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded an urgent review.
Relaxing Covid-19 restrictions at Christmas will cost many lives , experts warn. (PA Wire/Canva) Pressure is mounting on the Government to rethink the easing of Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas with leading medical journals warning the move could “cost many lives”. The British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal have written a joint editorial for only the second time in 100 years to call on the Government to rethink their strategy. They said that the Government “is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives”. The warning, authored by HSJ editor Alastair McLellan and BMJ editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee said: “When Government devised the current plans to allow household mixing over Christmas it had assumed the Covid-19 demand on the NHS would be decreasing.
URGENT talks are due to take place over the easing of Covid-19 restrictions during the Christmas period amid mounting pressure to scrap the plans. The leaders of the devolved administrations and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove are all set discuss the issue later today. Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford described the four nations approach to the festive period as a “hard-won agreement” and said he will “not lightly put it aside”. The move comes as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded an urgent review into the easing of rules after leading medical journals warned that a lessening of restrictions would “cost many lives”.
Healthcare leaders urge Government to scrap new Christmas rules
They said that the Government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives
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Two leading figures in the UK s healthcare community have written a joint letter to the Government calling for the Christmas relaxation rules to be scrapped.
A string of experts have already warned the Government that allowing multiple households to meet indoors for five days over Christmas - regardless of any tier, lockdown or level rules - will spark a third wave of coronavirus that could overwhelm the NHS.