despite growing pressure from doctors
and scientists to abandon the relaxation
of covert restrictions over christmas
the four nations of the united kingdom
have broadly agreed to stick to the
plans albeit with adjustments in wales
and to a lesser extent in scotland
with the number of infections rising
sharply all four nations have decided
that people should be urged
to show extreme caution over the
five-day period
well the rules initially agreed for all
of the uk between the 23rd and 27th of
december
allow three households in a so-called
christmas bubble
to mix indoors and to stay overnight but
only if that is
unavoidable wales now wants to limit the
mixing
to two households but those households
can be joined by a single person
who lives alone non-essential shops will
close on christmas eve
and all of wales will return to a form
of lockdown on the 28th
of december scotland is urging that any
interaction with other households
should ideally be outdoors and that
contact should be limited
to one day we'll be looking at the
christmas plans after today's revisions
and how effective they're likely to be
we'll start with this report by our
political editor laura kunsberg
even sorting the tree hasn't seemed
straightforward this year
politicians gave a promise we'd be able
to gather together at christmas
a glimmer of light at a grim time but
along with gifts
new concern about the virus is arriving
in number ten
it's a permission to see friends and
family comes with stern new advice
we're keeping the laws the same but we
all
want to send the same message
a smaller christmas is going to be a
safer christmas
and a shorter christmas is a safer
christmas
you are still allowing a five-day period
to go ahead when people from all over
the country will be able to get together
wouldn't it now be safer clearer
and perhaps braver to ditch the plans
to relax the rules over christmas we
don't want to
as i say to to ban christmas to
uh to cancel it uh and i i think that
would be frankly
inhuman what we are saying is that
uh that that guidance uh the the three
households and the
the five days that really should be
regarded as a as a maximum
but we're also relying on people's
strong strong sense
of personal responsibility leaders
around the uk have tried to stick to the
same approach
there will be some limited extra freedom
over the festive period
in scotland where soon eighty percent of
people will be living under tougher
restrictions
but there'll be no huge knees up for
mother and daughter max and louise
livingston
we come from a really big family so
normally we have a huge christmas
and loads of games lots of drinks lots
of partying
all the kids but this year obviously
it's completely
completely different for us the
christmas relaxation of the rules will
go ahead
but with a similar call for caution i
have to say i hate with every fiber of
my being standing here
trying to regulate how you spend
christmas the reality is that this
christmas simply can't be normal
but we have every reason every reason to
hope that next year's will be much more
normal
the picture's bleaker in wales though
where the law is being tweaked
so that only two not three households
can get together
in carmarthen plans are already changing
we've had three households together
but i think it's just going to be us now
so
the numbers are increasing as well
aren't they at the moment so
it is a worry pressure is intense on the
health service
and with the spread of the disease wales
is going back to a limited lockdown
straight after christmas nobody wants to
be ill
at christmas and none of us
want to give this deadly disease
to our closest family or friends
in northern ireland winter illness
conspired with covet
to fill hospitals to bursting last night
leaving ambulances queuing with patients
inside for as long as 12 hours
and that's even before any of the rules
are eased up
no surprise politicians here are telling
people to take care too
be risk aware at all times
remember the situations and activities
that help the virus spread
so keep your distance stop your contacts
with others outside your household or
christmas bubble
the political decisions about christmas
were never designed to create a
free-for-all
but the worsening pattern of the disease
is forced a re-brand
if not a re-think some families in essex
today were worried
about the consequences what's going to
happen is it's just going to spiral out
of control again
and and i do think they're wrong for
doing it i think it's too late now i
think people have made their plans and i
think if they come in now
and they change it people are just going
to do what they were planning to do
politicians must balance the dangers
from the pandemic with the real cost to
so many other aspects of our lives
this year what's meant to be a time of
celebration
is a time of real risk too laura
kinsburg bbc news westminster
so as we've been hearing the approach in
different parts of the uk
has changed somewhat today so let's
visit scotland wells northern ireland
find out more
in a moment we'll hear from james shaw
in glasgow and emma vardy in lisbon
first we're going to join sean lloyd in
cardiff
here in wales tighter restrictions are
on their way
non-essential shops and close contact
services such as hairdressers
together with fitness and leisure
centers must close from the end of
trading on christmas eve
and all hospitality venues must shut
from six o'clock on christmas day
now the five-day christmas covered
window that had already been agreed
remains in place
but the welsh government have told
people here that they can only form a
christmas bubble
of two households by law although a
single person
can join them from the 28th of december
wales goes into lockdown which means
people are expected to stay at home
and public facilities will close there's
no end in sight to these restrictions
but we are told they will be reviewed
every three weeks here in scotland the
restrictions around christmas are
already a little tighter than they are
in other parts of the country
so only eight adults from three
households should meet indoors that
total
doesn't include children under 12 but
the guidance today
limits even more what people are
supposed to do the scottish government
says that you should
only meet on one of the five days of
christmas
the amount of time the number of people
involved should be
as small as possible and you should not
stay in someone else's house
unless it is absolutely necessary also
travel between high-risk and low-risk
areas
should be avoided the location of us
here in northern ireland means that
people have been given an
extra couple of days for traveling over
the christmas period so people
told they may travel to and from
northern ireland between the 22nd
and the 28th of december a narrower
window though for that christmas
bubbling
people are allowed to meet up with other
households between the 23rd
and the 27th of december and it's up to
three households that are able to form a
christmas bubble
now for those heading out for some
christmas cheer pubs and restaurants
that serve
food here are still allowed to stay open
for now but there is still that limit on
opening times which here in northern
ireland
is 11 o'clock but saying that there is
still a lot of concern here
about high numbers of cases recent
restrictions haven't had the kind of
impact ministers have been hoping for
so there's still the possibility of
further restrictions on hospitality to
come
emma vardy they're ending that sequence
in northern ireland let's have a look at
the latest government figures on
coronavirus they show another 25 161
cases have been recorded
in the latest 24-hour period means the
average number of new cases reported per
day in the past week
was 20 923
162 people were admitted hospital on
average each day
over the week to last saturday 612
deaths were reported
for the past 24 hours that's people who
died within 28 days
of a positive covid19 test on average in
the past week there were 422 deaths per
day
and the total number of uk deaths so far
is now 65
520. so
with me in the studio is our health
editor hugh pim and hugh let's go back
to
some of the reasoning and the anxieties
being expressed
uh during the day by experts
on the easing of these restrictions what
can you tell us about the level of
anxiety
well you if you look at the detail of
some of that data
we've just been reporting we discovered
that more than eighteen
thousand patients with kovid 19 are now
in uk hospitals
that is the highest since april and
getting close to the peak then of 21 000
and compares with just 800 in early
september
that's a stark illustration of the way
pressure's been building up on the nhs
and we heard from professor
chris witte the uk government's chief
medical advisor at the briefing today
that any kind of
mixing of people that wouldn't otherwise
have happened will
result in higher risk more cases more
people going to hospital
and sadly some of them not surviving in
other words what will happen over
christmas
the british medical association has said
today relaxing the rules will cost lives
and people must think
very long and hard about what they do
over christmas though we should add that
health officials also acknowledge the
benefits
of some mixing in terms of people's
well-being and mental health and those
who are
lonely tonight we've learned from public
health wales
that eleven thousand extra positive
coveted tests have been discovered in
the system
relating to the week ending on the 15th
of december
in effect doubling the number that were
known about now we've seen one or two
problems in other parts of the uk
including england of
test results being delayed and coming
forward but it comes at a very sensitive
time
in wales there have been calls for
reassurance for the public that
a grip has been got on this situation
but it may actually reinforce
the welsh government's argument for
these tighter restrictions over
christmas
huge many thanks again hugh pim our
health