The UK government and the devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have come together to agree a limited relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas.
Up to three households will be allowed to form a Christmas “bubble” over the festive period as coronavirus restrictions are relaxed for five days across the UK.
The temporary easing of measure will last between December 23 and December 27.
Despite families being able to mix at home, restrictive measures will still be in place in venues such as pubs or restaurants as dependant on the new tier system.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to give details on Thursday regarding which areas of England will be placed in which tier ahead of the end of national lockdown on December 2.
All four UK nations have agreed that from the 23rd to the 27th of December, you will be able to form a Christmas bubble of no more than three households.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 24, 2020
https://t.co/5qLRcLBP8W pic.twitter.com/boonZD27Q8
Here are the key points you need to know from the government’s latest guidance in the lead-up to Christmas:
Your Christmas “bubble”
Up to three households will be able to come together to form a “Christmas bubble” during that period.
Members of a bubble can meet at home, in places of worship and in outdoor public places but will not be able to get together in pubs or restaurants and restrictions on hospitality will be maintained depending on which tier people are living under.
Bubbles must be fixed for the duration of the period and cannot be changed. Bubble members will not be required to follow social distancing while they are together – although they are advised to exercise caution if there are vulnerable people involved.
Travel
Travel restrictions will be lifted across the UK for five days between December 23 and 27 to enable people from different households to gather over the holiday.
Those travelling to and from Northern Ireland will be permitted to travel for an additional day either side of the five days.
Children
Children under the age 18 whose parents live apart can be a part of both parents’ bubbles if they chose to form different groupings.
Students
In England, students who have returned home for the holidays are treated a part of their family household, rather than their student household, for the purposes of forming a Christmas bubble. The rules may vary in other administrations when detailed regulations are published.
People are advised to reduce unnecessary contact with those they do not live within the two weeks before they join a bubble.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article