Half of Britons say they will form a Christmas Covid bubble

Half of Britons intend forming a Christmas bubble of up to three households this festive season, amid a warning from the prime minister that those who wish to do so should already be minimising their contacts.

The Office for National Statistics was told by half of adults that they would form a bubble while 38% said they would not.

The survey comes as Boris Johnson again pressed the government’s message of “personal responsibility” in the upcoming festive period.

“If you are forming a Christmas bubble, it’s vital that from today, you minimise contact with people from outside your household,” he said in a tweet on Friday morning.

Boris Johnson
(@BorisJohnson)

If you are forming a Christmas Bubble, it’s vital that from today, you minimise contact with people from outside your household.

Everyone must take personal responsibility to avoid passing the virus on to loved ones this Christmas.https://t.co/dpk4hK17xs

December 18, 2020

Fewer people plan to carry out their usual Christmas activities this year according to the survey: just over a quarter of people said they would be visiting family and friends without staying overnight (26%, down from 52% last year) while one in five said they would have family and friends visit (19%, compared with 39% last year).

Just 11% of people said they would stay overnight with friends and family while 10% said they would have friends or family stay with them (down from 28% and 21% respectively).

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The proportion of those planning to meet in restaurants, cafes or bars stood at 4% compared with 44% last year.

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Tim Vizard, of the ONS said the survey, which was carried out between 10 and 13 December, showed that people had altered their Christmas plans ahead of updated government guidance in the wake of rising case figures across many parts of the country.

“Even before the updated guidance about socialising over Christmas, people were already making significant changes to the way they normally celebrate Christmas. This included lower proportions of adults planning to stay overnight with others, travel overseas and travel by public transport compared to last year.”

Elsewhere, the survey found that one in 10 people in Britain were “very” or “fairly” unlikely to take the Covid vaccine, with one in 20 saying they didn’t know.

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Of those who said they would be unlikely to take the vaccine if offered, the most commonly reported reasons were:

• Feeling worried about the side-effects (52%).

• Wanting to wait to see how well the vaccine works (52%).

• Feeling worried about the long-term effects on their health (46%).

A much smaller proportion (7%) said they were “against vaccines in general”.

There were differences in the intention to take the vaccine depending on age: while 95% of those aged 70 and over indicated they would take the vaccine, the proportion decreased with age.

Among 16- to 29-year-olds only 63% said they were “very likely” or “fairly likely” to have the vaccine if offered.