No ‘snogging under the mistletoe’ says cabinet minister: Boris’s team branded ‘Christmas killjoys’

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The government has been accused of sending more mixed messages on socialising at Christmas after a minister last night said that people should avoid “snogging under the mistletoe” over the holiday.

It comes after Boris Johnson yesterday contradicted deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries by saying that Christmas parties should go ahead, hours after she had said Britons should limit socialising over fears surrounding the new Omicron variant of cornavirus that has emerged. 

Thirty-two cases of the heavily-mutated variant have been found in the UK after it was first discovered in Africa, and it is feared that the strain may be able to evade the protection offered by vaccines and reinfect people who have previously been infected.   

Ms Coffey told ITV’s Peston programme that ‘we should all be trying to enjoy the Christmas ahead of us’, adding: ‘For what it’s worth, I don’t think there should be much snogging under the mistletoe.’

‘(You) don’t need to do things like that. But I think we should all be trying to enjoy the Christmas ahead of us and that’s why we’re working so hard to get the deployment of as many vaccines as possible.”

Ms Coffey said kissing should be avoided with ‘people you don’t already know’.  

Sajid Javid had already sparked anger from hospitality bosses yesterday after he urged partygoers to take a Covid test before Christmas parties. The Health Secretary even suggested revellers should consider wearing a face mask.  

And it emerged last night that office Christmas parties were already being postponed by organisers who are afraid of the threat posed by Omicron.  Some employees have also been told to work from home amid fears over the new strain.

A string of hotels and restaurants revealed they faced losing thousands of pounds from lost bookings. 

Ministers have been accused of scaring businesses into sending staff home through December and cancelling Christmas parties because of the Omicron strain of Covid-19 as SAGE scientists called for all UK arrivals to be forced to quarantine for five days and take a pre-departure PCR test even if they are fully vaccinated.

In rules now enshrined in law until March, Boris Johnson said that face coverings must now be worn in shops and on public transport to ‘buy us time in the face of this new variant’ while he pledged to ‘throw everything’ at the booster vaccination campaign and offer jabs to 40million over-18s by January 31 to tackle its spread.

But in the same Downing Street press conference last night the Prime Minister insisted another lockdown is ‘extremely unlikely’, urging people not to cancel their plans and to ‘keep living your life’.

Critics say the Government’s latest coronavirus rules on masks, blanket quarantine for Omicron contacts and gloomy language about the threat of the new variant is actually encouraging a semi-lockdown by stealth despite just 22 cases of the new strain detected so far.

Deaths, infections and hospitalisations were all down in the UK yesterday while a World Health Organization official claimed today that most Omicron cases are ‘mild’ and there is no evidence the new variant has any impact on vaccine effectiveness against serious illness.

Amid accusations of mixed messages Sajid Javid also encouraged millions of people to be ‘sensible’ and ‘cautious’ about attending Christmas parties and to take a lateral flow test before going to slow the spread of the Omicron variant. There are also ‘no guarantees’ that there won’t be a lockdown this Christmas, the Health Secretary warned.

Google has emailed UK staff urging them to ‘move any planned in-person social gatherings until 2022’ and limiting them to no more than 15 people. Ronan Harris, Vice President and MD for Google UK & Ireland, also told workers that face-to-face business meetings and events must be approved by a company director.

 And despite Government guidance saying otherwise, many UK companies have scrambled to reinstate office restrictions including mask wearing in communal areas such as corridors and lifts. Insurance giant Aviva is introducing daily lateral flow tests for employees. EY is one of a number of big businesses asking staff to wear face coverings when not at their desks.

Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope has claimed the Prime Minister’s regulations are ‘part of a scaremongering propaganda campaign that is really designed to restrict or stop interaction between social animals. They’re designed to suppress freedom of the individual and suppress social contact, and they’re doing that through unreasonable fear-mongering.’

Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Elmet and Rothwell, said: ‘I have received several emails from travel companies in my constituency whose potential bookings have dropped off a cliff because of the cost of PCR tests’, adding encouragement back towards working from home will be devastating for businesses relying on office workers.

Anyone in close contact with an Omicron case must now self-isolate for ten days, even if doubled jabbed.

The new rule is thought to have left bosses worried that an outbreak at an event could put multiple staff in quarantine.

Hospitality chiefs and Tory MPs believe the mixed messages – Boris Johnson has said people should ‘keep living your life’ – was having a ‘chilling effect on consumer confidence’.

Steve Baker, who spoke out against new coronavirus curbs in the Commons on Tuesday, said the public needed ‘clarity, not Christmas killjoys’.

The Tory former minister added: ‘People are sick and tired of this level of micromanagement of their lives. They want to be free and joyful, and they want to be free and joyful at Christmas – without the Christmas killjoys.’

World Health Organisation officials suggested yesterday that those diagnosed with Omicron so far mostly had no symptoms or only ‘very, very mild’ ones. 

None of the 32 confirmed cases in the UK has been hospitalised. However, ministers have already brought back face masks in shops and on public transport and toughened self-isolation rules. The booster rollout is also to be rapidly accelerated. 

In a string of other developments:

The UK has bought 114million more doses of coronavirus vaccines that can be tweaked to protect against new variants;Some routine medical checks by GPs are likely to be suspended so they can deliver more booster jabs;Leaked minutes from a meeting of the Sage advisory committee revealed that advisers were pushing for much tougher restrictions on travel;Doctors said 16 of the 19 cases of Omicron in Botswana – where it was discovered – were asymptomatic;European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen suggested mandatory vaccination might be necessary;A council in York told residents to wear masks in busy outdoor areas in response to the variant;Mr Johnson denied breaking coronavirus rules at a ‘boozy’ party in No 10 during lockdown last Christmas;Another 48,374 Covid cases and 171 deaths were reported yesterday.

Public health chief Jenny Harries sparked a row on Tuesday by advising against ‘unnecessary socialising’ in the run-up to Christmas. The Prime Minister later contradicted her, telling people not to cancel festive events.

But last night it was claimed that staff working for NHS trusts, for magazines and even Age UK were among those to have had their Christmas parties cancelled. Many large employers are either telling employees to return to working from home or advancing Covid security measures in the office.

Kate Nicholls, of the trade body UK Hospitality, said: ‘The messaging over the weekend had a chilling effect on consumer confidence and we are starting to see a small number of cancellations.’

Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘As we embark in earnest on this make-or-break festive season, clarity, consistency and proactive promotion of official advice is more important than ever.’

But Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the Sage advisory group, told Times Radio that people should consider avoiding Christmas parties or at least wearing masks.

Revealed: Triple-vaccinated Israeli doctor who believes he caught Omicron Covid variant in London at conference attended by 1,250 people on 23 November – just as new strain was discovered in Africa

By Katie Weston and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter for the MailOnline

A triple-vaccinated Israeli doctor has raised fears over the Omicron variant having been in the UK for weeks after saying he believes he caught the strain at a conference in London attended by 1,250 people on November 23.

Elad Maor, 45, travelled to the capital on November 19 and stayed at a hotel in Islington while attending the three-day convention at ExCeL London in Newham, east London, before returning to Israel. 

The father-of-three, who is a cardiologist at Sheba Medical Centre near Tel Aviv, tested positive for the virus four days later, on November 27, and suffered mild symptoms including a sore throat, fever and muscle ache.

He took three PCR tests on November 20, 21 and 24 – all of which came back negative. After returning to work in Israel he later displayed symptoms and took a fourth PCR test which showed a positive result.

Dr Maor, who is now quarantining at home in Israel, appears to be certain that he picked up the variant while attending the conference, saying: ‘I got the Omicron in London, for sure.’ 

He told The Guardian: ‘That is interesting because that was 10 days ago in London – really, really early.’  

Dr Maor also believes he infected a 69-year-old fellow worker, who has since tested positive for the Omicron variant after returning from London.

Pointing to a delay between the time of infection and when the PCR turns positive, he added: ‘The only reasonable explanation is that I got infected on the last day of the meeting – maybe at the airport, maybe at the meeting.’

The associate professor of cardiology at Tel Aviv University said he commuted to the conference via the tube and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) over the three-day period. 

His comments come as Dr. Anthony Fauci announces the first detected case of the Omicron variant in the US, saying it was identified by the San Francisco Departments of Public Health in California. 

Fauci said the individual had returned from South Africa on November 22 and tested positive a week later on November 29.

He or she was fully vaccinated, but had not received a booster, and is currently experiencing mild symptoms. 

Meanwhile in the UK, in rules now enshrined in law until March, Boris Johnson said that face coverings must be worn in shops and on public transport to ‘buy us time in the face of this new variant’.

The Prime Minister also pledged to ‘throw everything’ at the booster vaccination campaign and offer jabs to 40million over-18s by January 31 to tackle its spread.

But in the same Downing Street press conference last night Mr Johnson insisted another lockdown is ‘extremely unlikely’, urging people not to cancel their plans and to ‘keep living your life’.

Critics say the Government’s latest coronavirus rules on masks, blanket quarantine for Omicron contacts and gloomy language about the threat of the new variant is actually encouraging a semi-lockdown by stealth despite just 22 cases of the new strain detected so far. 

Deaths, infections and hospitalisations were all down in the UK on Tuesday while a World Health Organization official claimed on Wednesday that most Omicron cases are ‘mild’ and there is no evidence the new variant has any impact on vaccine effectiveness against serious illness.