Families urged to postpone festivities until spring
PEOPLE should consider postponing Christmas celebrations until the spring, Leicester City Council has said.
Case numbers of coronavirus in the city have stopped their gradual decline since a month ago and hospitals are bracing themselves for the relaxation of rules at Christmas leading to more hospitalisations.
Government data shows the number of cases among those over 60 in Leicester is rising slightly again. The city council is hoping to stop the rise and eventually get Leicester out of Tier 3.
In a tweet at the weekend, the city council said: “We all need to consider the risks of mixing at Christmas, especially if we have vulnerable people in our families.
“Postponing plans until spring, and finding other ways to show we care are options. No-one wants to put family members at risk, so we need to think carefully now.”
Across the whole of Leicestershire the number of people with coronavirus is rising.
Labour politicians had been urging the government to change its decision to let more people mix over the period from December 23 until December 27. The city council’s tweet came hours before tougher restrictions were imposed on a large part of the UK, leaving a third of the population facing Christmas in Tier 4 due to a new strain of the disease which is spreading more quickly.
The new strain is not thought to be more dangerous or be more resistant to the vaccine. However, across the rest of the country which is not in Tier 4, including Leicestershire, the rules allowing up to three households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only rather than the five days.