Covid Scotland: Avoid meetings if you want a 'good Christmas dinner', warns Scottish professor

People should avoid meeting others this week if they want a “good Christmas dinner”, one expert has warned.

Stephen Reicher, professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews and a member of government advisory body the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group, said more restrictions were probably needed, “but that needs to go along with adequate support for business and individuals”.

Prof Reicher told BBC Breakfast: “The safest thing to do is not to meet up before Christmas.

“If you want a good Christmas dinner, I would say be very careful about meeting up before Christmas. But you can do things to stack the odds in your favour if you ever do meet up – the first thing to do is to make sure that you have a lateral flow test.

A Christmas tree ball hangs on the branches of a tree covered with hoar frost and snow. People have been warned to avoid meetings with others this week if they want to have a normal Christmas dinner. Picture: Thomas Warnack/dpa via AP

“They’re not perfect, but if we take them, they improve our odds. Make sure that the spaces we go into are as well ventilated as possible, that we think about distancing, meet outdoors if we can.

“We can do all sort of things to stack the odds in our favour, but the bottom line is the more we meet before Christmas, the more we put Christmas at risk.”

Prof Reicher said polling suggested people were “ahead of the [UK] Government in recognising the threat of Omicron” in “wanting measures to be taken.”

His thoughts were echoed by Patricia Marquis, England director at the Royal College of Nursing, as she urged the Government to listen to scientific advisers to ease pressure on the NHS.

She told BBC Breakfast the Government should listen to “whatever the scientific advisers are saying in both the pattern of spread of Omicron, and the effect that it’s having on people, their health and the health service” and the science needs to guide whatever comes next to protect the NHS from what could be a “real collapse”.

However, GP Carl Heneghan said the country was in a different place from last year, and “we are in deep, deep trouble of potentially talking ourselves into annual lockdowns”.

As he was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Heneghan asked: “When are we going to treat people like adults?”, adding the behaviour of people in England has “already changed”.

He said: “It’s already changed in response to the messages. If you’re in Greater London now, [population in] the workplace is down by 40 per cent. In the City of London, it’s up to 60 per cent. So people are able to respond to information or adapt their behaviour accordingly.

“People will moderate their behaviour accordingly. That’s what we need to trust people to do going forward because that’s the only sustainable policy.

“This time last year, there were over 2,000 people being admitted [to hospital]. So we’re in a very different place with the presence of vaccines, the presence of boosters, antivirals on board, and you have to reflect on that information.

“Because what happens is this is as good as it gets.”

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said he cannot give any “hard, fast guarantees” that more restrictions will not be needed ahead of Christmas Day.

However, he said the country is in a better position “to enjoy Christmas with loved ones this year”.