Relaxing of restrictions for Christmas is ‘mistake’

RELAXING coronavirus restrictions throughout the UK over Christmas is a ‘mistake’ which will have ‘consequences’, a public health expert has warned.

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said she was concerned about people travelling from areas with high coronavirus infections to parts of the country with lower prevalence of the virus.

Her warning comes after the UK Government and devolved nations agreed to relax lockdown restrictions for five days over the festive period.

From December 23 - 27, up to three households are allowed to form a bubble. This means that social distancing measures don’t have to be followed within the group, allowing friends and family to hug for the first time in months. But Prof Bauld told BBC Breakfast: “From a public health perspective, I have to be perfectly honest, I think this is a mistake.

“I think people have to think very carefully whether they can see loved ones outside, or do it in a very modest way. I’m also concerned about the travel, people going from high to low-prevalence areas. I think it’s going to have consequences.”

However, Prof Bauld added that if the Government retracted their promise on the break, then trust in politicians could erode further.

She went on: “I completely understand why governments are doing that. Behaviourally people are fed up. If you’re meeting people indoors from other households, there’s poor ventilation, maybe older family members are in those bubbles, unfortunately because the virus hasn’t been eliminated... I think that means the Christmas period is a risk.” The latest coronavirus data shows, for the seven days to December 7, of the 315 local areas in England, 179 have seen a rise in case rates.