Covid this Christmas: the advice from experts and the government

The threat posed by Covid may have grown with the discovery of the new Omicron variant, but the health secretary has insisted that “it’s going to be a great Christmas”.

Sajid Javid told Sky News that although it would be “irresponsible to make guarantees”, people can “continue with their plans as normal for Christmas”.

Some ministers, however, are urging more caution over the festive period. Speaking on ITV’s Peston show, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said she didn’t “think there should be much snogging under the mistletoe” this year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In a tweet she later clarified her position, saying “Don’t kiss with people you don’t know”, adding that the government, the NHS and “the Jabs Army” were working hard “so we can all enjoy a proper Christmas knees-up”. A No. 10 spokesperson has since said “there are no further restrictions or guidance” on kissing strangers.

It’s “mixed messages for Christmas smoochers”, the Daily Star’s front page said on Thursday. But the confusion goes beyond yuletide romances to the wider issue of seasonal socialising, in light of scientists’ concerns that Omicron could be more transmissable than previous Covid strains.

The head of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, warned this week that people should “decrease our social contacts a bit” and not socialise “when we don’t particularly need to” in order to limit the spread of the virus.

Harries’ comments stirred “a political storm, with Conservative MPs accusing her of causing chaos by offering the public advice that did not constitute government policy”, said The Times. A spokesperson for the PM said the official guidance had not changed, and stressed that Harries “is not a government minister”.

Javid, speaking on Times Radio, said that Harries would be “the first person to agree that ministers get advice from different experts and then we make a decision taking into account all the advice”.

Christmas Covid advice

As ministers and scientists digest the latest Omicron data, here’s what they are advising this Christmas:

On Christmas parties

At a press conference on Tuesday, the prime minister said he did not want people to cancel Christmas parties. The news came shortly before reports that a Christmas gathering took place at Downing Street last November while London was under Tier 3 restrictions and England was in its second lockdown. Guests were “crammed ‘cheek by jowl’”, a source told The Mirror.

But science minister George Freeman soon “plunged” the issue of this year’s festive celebrations into “further chaos”, said the Daily Mail. Speaking to Times Radio, he disclosed that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy “won’t be having a big Christmas party this year”. Given concerns about the Omicron variant, Freeman said the team would probably “get together on Zoom and toast each other” instead of holding an in-person celebration. He acknowledged that “it won’t be the best party in the world”.

In response, the PM’s spokesperson said that Johnson had been “very clear” on the matter of Christmas parties: “We don’t want people to cancel such events and there is no government guidance to that end.”

Greater Manchester night-time economy adviser Sacha Lord welcomed the news that Christmas parties could go ahead under government guidance, but told Sky News that for the hospitality sector, “the horse had already bolted”.

The 48 hours after Harries’ comments had been “catastrophic for the industry”, he said. Businesses who were expecting up to 25% of their turnover to come from the Christmas festivities had seen it “snatched away from them”.

On nativity plays

Johnson has said that the government does not want schools to scale back on nativity plays this year. Even so, some have decided to switch to virtual performances.

“Now if someone tests positive with the new variant, individuals have to isolate regardless of age or vaccination status,” headteacher Jamie Barry told The Guardian. “I can’t risk losing half my staff or children missing the final week of term.”

“Now is the time for the utmost caution,” said GP Helen Salisbury writing in the BMJ this week. “The group with the highest incidence of Covid-19 is primary school children” who remain unvaccinated. Salisbury warned that “we’ll inevitably fail to control the spread of this new variant” if children who are household contacts of people with non-Omicron Covid cases are still required to attend school as the current policy states.

“We want to have Christmas parties and carol concerts, to eat and drink and laugh together without fear,” said Salisbury. “But no one wants to relive the nightmare of last January in our hospitals.”

Gift shopping

The PM had previously recommended that shoppers take a Covid test before embarking on their Christmas shopping. After the discovery of Omicron, masks are again mandatory in shops and on public transport.

Pamela Vallely, a professor of medical virology at the University of Manchester, told The Times that while she thinks shopping and socialising can “go ahead”, people should do so “cautiously and sensibly”. Vallely also recommended people wear masks “even outdoors if you are in an enclosed space”.

The big day

The PM said this week that he is confident “this Christmas will be considerably better than the last”. The roll-out of the booster jabs is one reason for hope, with health services now to be buoyed by 400 military personnel to help increase vaccination rates.

On the question of getting grandparents and grandchildren together over Christmas, Vallely told The Times that “we are going to have to keep a very close eye” on Covid cases over the coming month.

“If my older relatives are vaccinated and the children in my family are either vaccinated or have had a negative lateral flow test on the day of the gathering I would be reasonably happy,” she continued. “Be sensible, wear masks and open windows as much as possible,” she added.

Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, also said he would focus on guests’ vaccination statuses “rather than fret about the size or ages of the gathering”.

There is currently no government guidance prohibiting the level of social mixing on 25 December. Javid has encouraged young people who are not yet eligible for the jab to “help your parents, grandparents or vulnerable loved ones get their jabs” to boost public immunity.