By Who can I see at Christmas?
Three households will be allowed to form a temporary “Christmas bubble” between December 23 and 27.
And people will be able to hug their loved ones – as social distancing rules are removed for the five days.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have backed the plan put forward by Boris Johnson – despite fears that infections will rise.
However people are being urged to consider carefully the increased risk that household-mixing poses, after the prime minister described this Christmas as a “season to be jolly careful”.
Once a bubble is formed, it cannot be changed, according to the Christmas Covid-19 rules.
The households can mix indoors and stay overnight.
Bubbles will be allowed to meet each other:
- In each other’s homes
- At a place of worship
- In an outdoor public space, or garden.
A bubble will not be allowed to meet in pubs, restaurants or bars.
The bubbles will be fixed, so you will not be able to mix with two households on Christmas Day and two different ones on Boxing Day.
Households you are in a Christmas bubble with can’t be in others.
There will be no limit to the number of people in a household joining a bubble.
In England if you have formed a support bubble with another household, that counts as one household, so you can join with two other households in a Christmas bubble.
People who are self-isolating should not join a Christmas bubble. If someone tests positive, or develops coronavirus symptoms up to 48 hours after the Christmas bubble last met, everyone will have to self-isolate.
Travel restrictions across the whole of the UK will be lifted during the period, allowing people to travel across the nations or between local tiers in order to meet with those within their bubble.
You can meet people outside your Christmas bubble, but only in line with rules of the tier you live in.
People who are clinically extremely vulnerable are allowed to form Christmas bubbles but are warned that doing so will involve greater risks.
Care home residents over the age of 65 will not be allowed to form Christmas bubbles. Those under 65 may be allowed to do so, but would have to self-isolate and be tested on their return.
Children of parents who live apart are allowed to be part of two separate Christmas bubbles. This means they can see both parents without being counted as part of another household.
University students may return to their parents at the end of term and be counted as part of their household straight away.
But if parents have three or more grown up children who are not at university, then they cannot all form a Christmas bubble with their parents.
Individual households can split for Christmas. So, if three people are sharing a home they can all go and form separate Christmas bubbles with their families and come back to form a single household again afterwards.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the relaxation of restrictions will not be extended to cover New Year’s Eve.
She said: “I know New Year is special for people, perhaps slightly more so in Scotland than in other parts of the UK, but the virus is still there.”
Guidance on festive activities – such as whether carol singing will be allowed – is expected to follow shortly.
Photo: JESHOOTS.COM
