Christmas gatherings ‘not worth the risk’, WHO says

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned people to stay home during the holiday season, saying going out was “not…

By admin , in UK , at December 18, 2020 Tags: Christmas, Coronavirus

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned people to stay home during the holiday season, saying going out was “not worth the risk” of catching Covid-19.

“The safest thing to do right now is to remain at home,” the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Kluge, said in a statement on Thursday.

“There remains a difference between what you are being permitted to do by your authorities and what you should do,” he said.

More than two-thirds of England’s population will go under Tier 3 restrictions from Saturday. The rules are expected to be temporarily relaxed by the government over Christmas, allowing up to three households to mix between 23 and 27 December.

Several European countries have introduced new restrictions in a bid to slow down the soar of infections during the holiday season.

Germany has already shut schools and non-essential businesses in a strict lockdown, and the Netherlands and the Czech Republic announced they would do the same.

France has introduced a night-time curfew, while Italian media reported that the country was expected to announce on Friday a nationwide lockdown starting before Christmas and ending in the early days of January 2021.