Doctor Hilary Jones has warned Brits that we can't make ban exception for coronavirus at Christmas as people relaxing their vigilance could spread coronavirus further.
It has been widely reported over the past few days that many parts of the country could be subject to tough restrictions over the festive season.
As things stand, only those areas in tier 1 will be able to have gatherings of six, while places in tier 2, including the North East, can only have household mixing in support bubbles and people in towns and cities in tier 3 won't be able to meet anyone else at all either indoors or outdoors.
The speculation has sparked serious concern amongst families and days after BBC news host Victoria Derbyshire had to apologise after she claimed her family would break the rule of six to have seven people for Christmas dinner, TV medic Dr Hilary has said there is no way people should think about making an exception for Christmas as COVID-19 deaths continue to climb.
Speaking on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain, he said: "It's still very serious, we're still in the pandemic. I'd love to give the population really good news but this is the worst pandemic for over a hundred years and we're still in it.
We can't rely on a vaccine, we hope it will save people from dying but it won't stop infections, not the early vaccine anyway.
"But people are working on it round the clock, round the world. I think we still need to rely on the basic principles which is hands, face, space and if we all do that and we’re realistic and don’t say Christmas is an exception.
"If we make Christmas an exception, then every celebration will be an exception. A birthday, a Friday night, a promotion..."
Dr Hilary's warning came hours before This Morning panellist Gyles Brandreth called on the Government to give the population a two day break from lockdown for Christmas.
Speaking on the programme, he said: "My gut feeling is that most people are sensible and will follow the rules but I hope, come Christmas, there will be a 48 hour release when the breaks come off and people are told to be as sensible, keep to the rule of six if possible.
"But if you have a slightly larger family, go with it for 48 hours and then go back to the 'new normal' of a partial lockdown for months and possibly years."
