Nation divided: Britons in two camps over COVID Christmas rules

With a week to go until Christmas, the United Kingdom is a nation divided.

Britons are split into two camps – those that believe Christmas should be cancelled in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, and others who say families should enjoy the government-approved break in social distancing lockdown measures, over a five-day period, during the holiday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to backtrack despite mounting warnings the move could have deadly consequences while the country remains gripped by the pandemic.

He says the UK will go on with its plan to relax COVID restrictions between December 23 and 27 but said people should “think hard” before meeting friends and family amid rising infections.

Johnson on Wednesday confirmed Britons will still be permitted to mix in groups of up to three households over the period.

“A smaller Christmas is going to be a safer Christmas, and a shorter Christmas is a safer Christmas,” he said in a televised statement. “When we say three households can meet on five days, I want to stress these are maximums, not targets to aim for.”

But on Tuesday, two leading medical publications warned the government should be tightening, rather than relaxing, the rules in only their second joint editorial in more than 100 years.

“We believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives,” the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal said.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said he would back any decision to toughen up restrictions over the Christmas holidays warning the UK was at a “critical moment” in its battle against the virus.

“I understand that people want to spend time with their families after this awful year, but the situation has clearly taken a turn for the worse since the decision about Christmas was taken. It serves no one for politicians to ignore this fact,” Starmer said.

‘Inhuman’ to cancel Christmas

All four UK nations – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – agreed in late November to allow household mixing for a number of days over the festive period.

But owing to a surge in cases, Welsh officials on Wednesday reduced the number of households permitted to mix by law to two.

Scotland’s regional government has issued tougher guidance for the Christmas holidays, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urging people who visit another household indoors to only do so on one of the five exemption days, and avoid overnight stays where possible.

Defending his stance, Johnson told reporters on Wednesday that it would be “inhuman” to cancel Christmas and “against the instincts” of a majority of Britons.

But critics have accused him of hypocrisy – other significant festivals such as Eid and Diwali were essentially cancelled earlier this year, due to lockdown measures.

“Johnson says it’s ‘inhuman’ to cancel Xmas. Why wasn’t it ‘inhuman’ to cancel Eid … Or ‘inhuman’ to cancel Diwali, Hanukkah etc,” former chief prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, tweeted.

“We made sacrifice because it was the right thing. Even if gov’t’s decision making is always too little & too late.”

Political activist and commentator Femi Oluwole also criticised Johnson’s choice of language.

“You can’t call it ‘inhuman’ to ban gatherings at Christmas when you did that for Diwali, Ramadan and Eid!,” he tweeted. “Unless, you’re saying your government acts ‘inhumanely’ towards religious minorities…”

The UK recorded another 25,161 new cases of COVID-19 nationwide on Wednesday – a rise of more than a third from a day earlier and the highest number of infections since mid-November – with another 612 deaths.

The country’s overall death toll from the pandemic now stands at more than 65,000 people, marking it out as the second-worst in Europe, behind Italy.