Parts of England to Spend Christmas in Full Lockdown

A sign promoting social distancing to combat the spread of the CCP virus is seen beside the Christmas tree in Covent Garden in central London on Nov. 27, 2020. Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Parts of England will spend Christmas in full lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday.

For the rest of the country, the previously agreed five-day period to allow up to three households to meet has been reduced to Christmas Day only.

“It is with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” said Johnson during a briefing.

It followed Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty’s confirmation that a new variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus observed in England recently does spread faster.

“Although there’s considerable uncertainty, it may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old variant, the original version of the disease,” Johnson said.

“This is early data and it’s subject to review. But it’s the best that we have at the moment and we have to act on information as we have it, because this is now spreading very fast,” the prime minister added.

Pedestrians walk past a British government health information advertisement highlighting new restrictions amid the spread of the CCP virus in London on Dec. 19, 2020. Toby Melville/Reuters

New Tier

A new tier has been created on top of England’s three-tiered CCP virus alert system, Johnson announced.

Regions most affected by the new variant will enter Tier 4 on Sunday.

These regions are: Kent and Medway, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead, and West Berkshire), Surrey (excluding Waverley), Hastings and Rother, Havant, and Gosport and Portsmouth from South East England; Hertfordshire, Essex (excluding Tendring, Uttlesford, and Colchester), Central Bedfordshire, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Luton, and Peterborough in the East of England; and all 32 London boroughs plus the City of London.

Johnson said the restrictions in Tier 4 will be broadly equivalent to the national lockdown in England in November.

People in Tier 4 will have to stay at home except for limited exemptions, and individuals can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space.

Retail businesses deemed non-essential, indoor gyms, leisure facilities, and personal care services must close.

Travelling in and out of Tier 4 areas is prohibited, and residents in Tier 4 areas will not be permitted to travel abroad, apart from limited exceptions such as for work purposes.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference inside 10 Downing Street in London on Dec. 16, 2020. Matt Dunham/WPA Pool/Getty Images

“In England, those living in Tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at Christmas,” Johnson said. “Support bubbles will remain in place for those at particular risk of loneliness or isolation,” he added.

“Across the rest of the country, the Christmas rules allowing up to three households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only rather than the five days, as previously set out.”

Johnson also asked people in all tiers “to stay local.”

He reiterated that there’s currently no evidence to suggest the new variant affects the severity or the mortality rate of the disease, or the effectiveness of vaccines.