The new Christmas restrictions are set to have a major impact on people’s plans across the country, with the government confirming that festive rules will be tightened.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that London and parts of the southeast will be subject to new Level 4 restrictions in an announcement this afternoon (December 19).
He also confirmed the changes made to the rules in place for Christmas, with allowing three families to mix over a period of five days during the festive period by changing the allowance only on Christmas Day.
People are advised not to enter Tier 4 areas, and residents of those areas are now not permitted to leave their area and cannot stay away from home overnight, which means they will not be able to see the family in other areas during Christmas.
Johnson said he had “with a sad heart” asserted that “we cannot go on at Christmas as planned.”
Anyone from Gloucestershire with relatives in the Tier 4 regions, which are those in London, the South East and East of England, will not be able to now see these relatives during the Christmas period, as residents of those areas are required not to leave their area while under Tier 4 restrictions.
It also means that people who live in Gloucestershire and have been planning to host others for Christmas cannot have Tier 4 residents at any time during Christmas, and that they can only accept people from other areas into their homes on Christmas Day, in place of the previous one. – Five day period planned.
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Anyone who would have traveled to a Tier 4 district for Christmas will now not be able to do so, as people across the country have also asked to consider staying as local as possible and only traveling when necessary for Christmas.
The prime minister said a new spread Corona Virus It was driven by a new type of virus, which he said was currently believed from scientific analysis to have no higher risk of death or more lethal, but that the new strain could be transmitted “more easily” between people.
He said the increased risk of transmission of the new strain could increase the national R by 0.4 or more, and scientific experts currently believe it is 70% more transmissible.
What are the Level 4 restrictions?
Areas entering Level 4 will see restrictions similar to the national lockdown we saw in November.
Rules for these areas include the following:
- Stay home with the exception of a few exceptions
- Close non-essential services
- People must not enter or leave the Tier 4 Zones and those who live in Tier 4 Zones must not stay out of their homes overnight
In contrast to the second national lockdown, the prime minister assured that public collective worship could continue.
These new restrictions will take effect tomorrow morning (Sunday 20 December).
The Prime Minister emphasized that these new levels will continue to be revised in line with the current national review, with the next official review taking place on December 30th.
