Families Must Isolate for 10 Days to Spend Christmas With Seniors, Scientists Warn

The Mirror reports that former U.K. Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir David King and independent Sage scientists recommended that families should isolate for at least 10 days before Christmas if they want to celebrate with senior relatives in the five-day break on COVID-19 restrictions. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's new tiers system will impose much tougher strictures on many regions compared to before the current four-week quarantine. King said Christmas carries a "big risk" to those most vulnerable to the virus, as it constitutes a ­"multi-generational time." He warned that many children are unwitting carriers of the virus, and "people will need to be exceptionally careful unless they isolate for between 10-12 days beforehand. There will be a price to pay for Christmas." University College London Professor Susan Michie agreed, and advised that "if parents know there are going to be vulnerable people around they should want children to self-isolate first." Johnson plans to lift restrictions for five days from Dec. 23 so that up to three households can gather for Christmas, but Michie said the huge ­numbers of people travelling "would be a disaster for transmission."