UK PM and chief medical officer warn public against socializing before Christmas

UK PM and chief medical officer warn public against socializing before Christmas
December 16, 2021, 6:38 am

Christmas decorations-Christmas season/Pixabay

The BBC reporetd that the prime minister and England's chief medical officer have urged the public to be cautious if they socialise before Christmas, amid record UK Covid cases.

It said that at Wednesday's news conference, Boris Johnson said he was not shutting pubs and restaurants but advised people to "think carefully before you go".

Speaking alongside the PM, Prof Chris Whitty urged people not to "mix with people you don't have to".

Prof Whitty warned more Covid records would be broken as the Omicron variant surges.

The BBC said that the UK recorded 78,610 new Covid cases on Wednesday - the highest daily number reported since the start of the pandemic.

Prof Whitty said the country was experiencing "two epidemics on top of one another", one driven by the "very rapidly-growing" Omicron and the other by the Delta variant.

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He said Omicron was "moving at an absolutely phenomenal pace" and that it would only be a short time until the UK saw "very large numbers" of infections.

He said: "I'm afraid we have to be realistic that records will be broken a lot over the next few weeks as the rates continue to go up."

The BBC mentioned that

Prof Whitty said key data was still needed on hospitalisations, severe disease and deaths from Omicron. But he warned: "All the things that we do know (about Omicron) are bad."

As a result, he told the public "don't mix with people you don't have to" and urged them to prioritise events and celebrations "that really matter to them".

"Because otherwise the risk of someone getting infected at something that doesn't really matter to them - and then not being able to do the things that matter to them - obviously goes up."

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Prof Whitty also said: "I think there's a high chance that my original Christmas plans with family are going to be interrupted."

Mr Johnson said the public were showing a "general instinct to be more cautious".

Reiterating his belief that this Christmas will be "considerably better" than last year, Mr Johnson insisted the government was not closing hospitality, cancelling parties or stopping people mixing with one another.

But he urged people to "think carefully" before they attend events, adding: "What kind of event is it? Are you likely to meet people who are vulnerable, are you going to meet loads of people you haven't met before? And get a test."

Source:BBC

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