Coronavirus: UK Christmas plan to ease restrictions could ‘cost many lives’

The UK has been urged to scrap plans to ease restrictions over Christmas, with experts warning the “major error” could have deadly consequences.

Experts have warned the UK government is making a potentially deadly mistake by going ahead with a controversial decision to ease restrictions for five days over Christmas.

The British government plans to ease COVID-19 restrictions from December 23 to 27 to allow families to celebrate Christmas together.

Under the new rules, three households can form a “Christmas bubble”, with no social distancing requirements for people within the bubble.

The decision has been ridiculed by health experts, with two major medical journals now joining the growing number of people calling for the plan to be cancelled.

For the second time in over 100 years the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and the Health Service Journal (HSJ) have released a joint statement warning the action would be “another major error” in the UK’s COVID-19 fight.

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“Many will see the lifting of restrictions over Christmas as permission to drop their guard,” the joint statement read.

“The government was too slow to introduce restrictions in the spring and again in the autumn. It should now reverse its rash decision to allow household mixing and instead extend the tiers over the five day Christmas period.

“In order to bring numbers down in advance of a likely third wave, it should also review and strengthen the tier structure, which has failed to suppress rates of infection and hospital admission.

“We believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives. If our political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action, they can no longer claim to be protecting the NHS (National Health Service).”

The warning came after the government announced that London and parts of three surrounding counties will from Wednesday join parts of central and northern England under the toughest restrictions to try to cut spiralling infection rates.

Pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality sites will close, apart from takeaways, as will theatres and other entertainment venues. Members of different households cannot mix indoors.

But some of these rules will still be temporarily scrapped over the holidays if the government’s Christmas bubble plan goes ahead.

Under the plan, people can meet those in their bubble in private homes, places of worship or outdoor public spaces.

Residents travelling to meet people in their Christmas bubble are required to do so between December 23 and 27

Anyone travelling to or from Northern Ireland may also travel on December 22 and 28.

The decision to dramatically relax restrictions come as the UK is still struggling to contain its second wave of COVID-19 infections.

On Tuesday, the country confirmed 18,450 new coronavirus cases, which is an increase of more than 3700 on the daily numbers recorded the previous week.

There were also 506 fatalities and more than 1640 new coronavirus patients admitted to hospital.

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The UK government has been warned the Christmas bubble could cause COVID-19 deaths to surge. Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

While residents are overjoyed at being able to see their loved ones this Christmas, many experts have questioned what grim price the country will have to pay for this luxury.

Andrew Hayward, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), pointed out respiratory infections spike in winter anyway and easing restrictions will only risk case numbers surging even higher.

“My personal view is we’re putting far too much emphasis on having a near normal Christmas. We know respiratory infections peak in January, so throwing fuel on the fire over Christmas can only contribute to this,” he told theBBClast month.

“We’re on the cusp of being able to protect those elderly people who we love through vaccination and it would be tragic to throw that opportunity away and waste the gains we’ve made during lockdown by trying to return to normality over the holidays.”

Professor Hayward criticised the government for its “highly inconsistent message” after spending months touting the importance of social distancing and staying home.

Bristol University epidemiologist, Gabriel Scally, had an even more blunt warning about what the easing of restrictions could mean for families across the UK

“There is no point in having a very merry Christmas and then burying friends and relations in January and February,” he told ITV in November.

“We need to think very seriously about Christmas and how we’re going to spend it.”

Christmas is now just over a week away and residents have been urged to take care when visiting friends and family.

Even though people within a Christmas bubble will be allowed to gather together, the leaders of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are still urging residents to think about alternative arrangements.

“Even where it is within the rules, meeting with friends and family over Christmas will be a personal judgment for individuals to take, mindful of the risks to themselves and others, particularly those who are vulnerable,” they said in a joint statement.

“Before deciding to come together over the festive period we urge the consideration of alternative approaches such as the use of technology or meeting outside.”