Covid: ‘Rash’ Christmas rules ‘will cost many live

Covid – The plan to ease Covid rules over Christmas in the UK is a “rash decision” that will “cost many lives”, two leading medical journals have said.

The Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal said people might see the lifting of restrictions “as permission to drop their guard”.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove will call officials in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to discuss the issue later.

Labour has called on ministers to hold an emergency review of the plans.

No 10 said the rules were “under constant review” but it still intended to allow families to meet up.

The prime minister’s spokesman said the government had been clear that people needed to “remain cautious and vigilant” during the five days of relaxed rules from 23 to 27 December.

The BBC’s Nick Eardley said one possible change being discussed was a limit on how far people can travel, but he stressed that no decisions had been taken.

It comes as millions of people in London and parts of Hertfordshire and Essex prepare to move into England’s toughest tier of coronavirus rules at 00:01 GMT on Wednesday.

In a joint editorial criticizing the UK’s Christmas rules, the editors of HSJ and BMJ wrote: “We believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives.

“If our political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action, they can no longer claim to be ‘protecting the NHS’.”

They stressed that demand on the NHS was increasing, and added that a new strain of coronavirus “has introduced further potential jeopardy”.

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to convene an emergency Cobra meeting to review the Christmas rules.

In a letter, he acknowledged that people “want to spend time with their families after this awful year”, but said “the situation has clearly taken a turn for the worse since the decision about Christmas was taken”.

At the end of November, the leaders of the four UK nations agreed to allow some covid rules to be temporarily relaxed over the festive period.

Travel restrictions will be eased to allow up to three households to form a bubble and stay overnight at each other’s homes.

Source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/