Christmas plans to allow families to mingle will be announced next week

The government is reportedly set to announce plans to allow ‘multiple families’ not living together to form a bubble and celebrate Christmas.

Coronavirus rules could be relaxed from December 22-28 across the country, but the country may have to live under strict restrictions before and after the holiday period to make this possible.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at yesterday’s Downing Street briefing that it was still too early to say what contacts people might have during Christmas, but Boris Johnson was reportedly preparing to announce a plan next week to relax the rules.

Citing sources within the government, The Telegraph reports that the long-awaited ‘winter plan’ could be announced on Monday.

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It was thought that the rules would be relaxed from Christmas Eve and cover only the most important holiday dates, but it is understood that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been pushing for several days of freedoms to ensure that pubs and restaurants can make enough money.

Along with the announcement of the bubble, it is understood that the PM, who is currently self-isolating after contact with an infected PM, will describe what the tiered system will look like after the crash.

The Telegraph reports that each tier is likely to become stricter, so measures that previously only applied to the highest tiers, such as a ban on mixing indoors at home, will now be part of the base tier of restrictions.

Ministers are believed to be working to make the new system “more consistent” with clearer rules attached at each level.

Decisions on which level each part of the country will enter will be made by the central government before the weekend, according to The Telegraph.

The newspaper said Johnson will also warn that the level of restrictions for the rest of next month will depend on how well the public obeys the current lockdown in England, which will end on December 2.

Downing Street declined to comment, but did not deny the report.

Addressing the coronavirus briefing on Friday, Hancock said it would be a ‘boost’ for the UK if a set of ‘safe, careful and sensitive’ plans could be agreed between decentralized nations.

He said: ‘During Christmas, I know how important it is that we have a system, a set of rules that keeps people safe but also allows them to see their loved ones.

Earlier this week, Public Health England said guidance from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) had suggested that each day of increased freedom could require five days of stricter measures.

But England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, who also appeared at the briefing, said “there is no magic number” on how many days a loosening of the rules could cost.

The government said another 511 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Friday, bringing the UK total to 54,286, while another 20,252 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases were reported. .

On Friday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there were “ substantial differences ” in Covid-19 infection rates in England, with rates continuing to rise in London, the east of England and the south-east, but declining. in northwest. and East Midlands.

Sage said the reproduction number, or R-value, for the whole of the UK had dropped to between 1 and 1.1.

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