Christmas bubbles have been cancelled for all areas moving into tier 4 restrictions from Sunday morning, meaning households will not be permitted to mix on Christmas Day, except within support bubbles.
Boris Johnson has announced that under the new tier 4 restrictions, people in these areas will be required to “stay at home”, and non-essential retail, indoor leisure and entertainment venues, and personal care services must close.
As for the rest of England, which are under tiers 1, 2 and 3, the rules around Christmas have been tightened. Up to three households will be allowed to meet indoors only on Christmas Day, instead of the previous five days around the holiday.
Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump has criticised the new tier and said: “We don’t want to have lockdowns. The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself!” He also took to Twitter to use the UK’s rising Covid-19 cases to attack the “fake news” media.
Mr Trump’s refusal to introduce strict social distancing rules and lockdown measures in the US has led to it being the worst-hit country in the world by coronavirus, with around 17.5m positive cases and over 314,000 deaths.
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