‘Change or delay’ Christmas gatherings with lots of people, WHO urges
‘An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,’ says organisation’s head
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Christmas gatherings with lots of people should be “changed or delayed” to stop the spread of Omicron, a World Health Organisation spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Dr Margaret Harris said the WHO had cancelled its annual Christmas meet-up for journalists because they were concerned about the rise in coronavirus infections.
She said others should consider cancelling Christmas gatherings if lots of people were planning on attending, especially if they were travelling from a number of different places.
She was speaking hours before Boris Johnson confirmed there would be no additional Covid restrictions imposed before Christmas, allowing millions of households to go ahead with festive plans.
Dr Harris said: “If you have gatherings that are not going to be safe, change them, delay them, do them later – don’t do them now.
“If you’ve got a large number of people, or a considerable number of people, especially people coming from different places. You don’t know what their exposure’s been. People coming together in that sort of circumstance – what we call social mixing – that’s the moment at which you’re most likely to spread Covid and particularly Omicron.”
She said the WHO didn’t want to cancel Christmas but was instead urging caution around large events.
Her warnings come after the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said “an event cancelled is better than a life cancelled”.
He urged people to postpone gatherings and said that holiday get-togethers could lead to “increased cases, overwhelmed health systems and more deaths”.
“All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family. All of us want to get back to normal”, he added. “The fastest way to do this is for all of us leaders and individuals to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others.
“In some cases, that will mean cancelling or delaying events.”
A government minister revealed he has changed his own plans and called for people across the UK to have a “cautious” Christmas.
Steve Barclay told LBC he had downsized the number of family members at his Christmas celebrations this year, with only his in-laws attending.
The Cabinet Office minister said: “We are saying to people that they should continue with Christmas but do so in a cautious way. That is what I will be doing with my own family.
“We can all protect our families and friends by having the booster.”
When asked what a cautious Christmas was, he added: “I think it is thinking about how many people we need to see. Some of my family won’t be coming over at Christmas. My wife’s parents will be joining us but others will not.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments