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Millions of people in the UK are spending a historic Christmas day apart from their loved ones, as restrictions limit the number of people who can get together.
Families originally hoped to take advantage of a five-day relaxation of measures from December 23 to 27, but a more transmissible variant the coronavirus meant that the rules had to be stricter.
Those who live in Level 4 areas in England cannot meet people outside their own home or bubble of support.
Those in Level 1, 2, and 3 areas can form a “Christmas bubble” limited to three households on Christmas Day alone.
Another six million people are scheduled to enter Level 4 from one minute after midnight. on Boxing Day.
The change will mean that 24 million people, representing 43% of England’s population, will live under the strictest measures.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have already announced new blockades since Boxing Day, while the strict restrictions in Wales will only be eased on Christmas Day before being imposed again.
Thousands of long-distance drivers in Kent will wake up in their truck taxis, unsure if they will be allowed to ride home after days of disruptions at the Canal border.
The Army has been hired to assist in the repatriation operation.
Long lines of trucks formed after French authorities required all drivers to present a negative coronavirus test before they could cross.
Some have already spent almost a week stranded in Kent, although hundreds of trucks have already been cleared to leave Dover and return to France.
Boris Johnson said he had “never known a Christmas” like this, but said the “sacrifices” made this year will keep people alive through the festive period next year.
In a Christmas message filmed by Downing Street, he said: “In most years it is a time of togetherness and celebration where generations mingle in the same house for days on end, taking out cookies and making out under the mistletoe, making it to be. .
“And yet this year is the only kind of Christmas that we just can’t afford to have.”
Johnson said this Christmas was “not about gifts, not turkey or brandy butter,” but about hope in the form of the COVID-19 vaccines that are being developed.
He added: “It is thanks to the efforts of the wise men and women of the East and other places, we have a vaccine and we know that we will be able to defeat the coronavirus, and that these deprivations that we are going through are temporary.” and we know that next year will really be better.
“We know that there will be people alive next Christmas, people we love, long live next Christmas precisely because we made the sacrifice and we don’t celebrate this Christmas as usual.”
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Another 39,036 cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the UK on Christmas Eve, the second-highest daily total to date, according to government figures.
The figure brought the total number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began to 2,188,587.
A further 574 deaths were confirmed on Christmas Eve, bringing the UK total to 69,625 since the pandemic began.
It comes as more than 600,000 people in the UK have received the first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The vaccines have been administered to nursing home residents, people aged 80 and over, and health and social care personnel through more than 500 vaccination sites across the UK.
The groups have been prioritized under the guidance of the government in accordance with the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI).
