As many as three different households will be allowed to mix for five days over the Christmas period, the government has announced, under a UK-wide plan agreed on Friday between ministers and the devolved nations.
The plan for “Christmas bubbles” will last from 23 to 27 December across the UK, and people will be able to move freely across the country, irrespective of what local tier of Covid restrictions they live in.
The one exception to the dates is that people travelling to and from Northern Ireland for Christmas can do so from 22 to 28 of December, to allow for the more complex journey. There will not, however, be any relaxation over the new year.
Details of the much-touted Christmas relaxation were thrashed out at a Cobra meeting involving the Westminster government and the devolved administrations, and chaired by the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove.
The three households will be able to meet inside homes, in outdoor public spaces, and at places of worship. However, they will not be allowed to gather in pubs or other hospitality settings, and otherwise the same rules for the local tier will stay in place.
There will be no social distancing for the united households, meaning people can, for example, hug relatives. However, the government is to produce guidance on how more vulnerable people can be protected amid this, such as visitors self-isolating before they meet.
Ministers are set to acknowledge that the Christmas plans are a compromise between allowing families to gather and public health, and could bring difficult choices. For example, if a family has three or more grown-up children, not all of them will be able to come to the parental home.
The only exception to this would be if one or more of the children is at university. A student who returns home at the end of the Christmas home will be treated as being part of the home household when they arrive.
There will also be some national variations. For example, in England, house sharers will be able to disperse to different family homes as separate household bubbles. However, in Scotland they will count as the same household, and cannot.
This means that in England, in theory one parent or half of a couple can join a three-household visit with their side of the family, with the other heading elsewhere.
The announcement comes a day after Boris Johnson unveiled a plan for the new tiers which come into force in England when the current lockdown restrictions end on 2 December.
This will put regions in one of three tiers of ascending strictness, but these are stricter, with more areas expected to be placed in the top two levels. In England, after the Christmas relaxation, areas will return to the same tier on 28 December.
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that there was a risk inherent in any relaxation of the restrictions and asked everyone to consider very carefully whether the opportunity to mix for a few days is necessary.
She said: “We know that for some, contact with friends and family is crucial during this time as isolation and loneliness can hit people especially hard over the Christmas period. The “bubble” approach aims to reduce this impact.
She was also clear that the relaxations did not extend to Hogmanay, which has historically been of greater social significance in Scotland.
Sturgeon said: “Just because you can mix with others indoors over this time, that doesn’t mean you have to. If you choose to stick with the rules as they are, then you will be continuing the hard work to beat this virus and prevent its spread.”
The Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, said the plans were “sensible”, adding. “However, it’s crucial we don’t lose the hard-gotten gains of the last few months for the sake of a few days. Flexibility shouldn’t mean a free for all. Sadly, this will not be Christmas as normal and people must know that any relaxation also comes with risks.”
The idea of a temporary relaxation over Christmas has also brought warnings from public health experts, with government scientists saying their modelling showed the likely need for five days of tougher restrictions to make up for each day of a looser regime during the festive period.
Giving evidence to a Commons committee on Tuesday, Devi Sridhar, professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said this would inevitably bring perils.
“People emotionally want to hear reassuring messages,” she told a joint meeting of the health and science committees. “They wanted to hear it over the summer that there would be no second wave, and they want to hear it now that Christmas will be normal.
“I guess I have to speak bluntly: the virus doesn’t care if it’s Christmas. We still have pretty high prevalence across the country. It is risky for people to mix indoors with alcohol with elderly relatives at this point in time.”
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