Now don’t invite more than FIVE guests to your Christmas party, says minister

7.2k

View
comments

Boris Johnson has now urged Britons not to call off their Christmas parties after his government’s muddled messaging sparked a wave of festive cancellations and a super-spreader event in Norway infected up to 60 people out of 120 with Omicron.

The Prime Minister received his booster shot live on TV before telling Sky News there was no reason for Britons to change their plans.

‘People should follow the guidance we’ve set out,’ he said. ‘They shouldn’t be cancelling things, there is no need for that at all and it isn’t what we’re saying. The most important thing you can do in all circumstances is to have your booster when it becomes available.’

Earlier today Mr Johnson’s business minister plunged Christmas party plans for millions of Britons into further chaos after declaring it would be ‘sensible’ to limit them to ‘four or five staff’ or axe them completely

George Freeman, the Under Secretary of State for Science, also revealed that he was cancelling his own department’s bash, changing it to drinks on Zoom instead amid concerns over the new Omicron variant, admitting: ‘It won’t be the best party in the world’.

But hours later No 10 urged firms not to cancel Christmas parties and said people are free to kiss who they like after another minister advised against ‘snogging under the mistletoe’ over the holiday period. 

Mr Johnson’s latest intervention on Sky News will be seen as an attempt to bring clarity to his government’s position, after hospitality bosses complained muddled and confusing advice from ministers had led to a ‘catastrophic’ 48 hours for the industry.

But there is growing uncertainty about the Omicron variant, which is fuelling a meteoric rise in cases in South Africa. Nationally, cases there soared to 11,535 today marking a 370 per cent rise in a week, and up a third on around 8,500 yesterday. 

It has become the dominant strain in the country in just a week since it was officially discovered, making up 75 per cent of sequenced samples now after outpacing Delta at a ferocious pace. 

But public health experts in South Africa and the World Health Organization have insisted that cases are only mild and that vaccines should still be highly effective against the strain, despite a distinct lack of data. 

At a WHO press conference today, officials said that reports on the ground suggest the variant is much better at re-infecting people than Delta, which is why it’s spreading so fast in Guateng province where up to 80 per cent have natural immunity. By contrast, only a quarter of South Africans are vaccinated against Covid. 

Yet despite the optimism, hospital admissions already appear to be on the rise in South African with today’s 274 up 180 per cent on last Thursday, even though they are rising from a low base. 

It came as a Christmas party at the Louise seafood restaurant in Oslo saw up to 60 people contract Omicron in what is likely to be the world’s biggest outbreak of the new strain so far. 

Norwegian epidemiologists have ruled out the possibility the infections are Delta variant cases and said there was a ‘high probability’ it was Omicron because at least one of the Scatec employees had recently returned from the renewable energy company’s South African office in Cape Town.

And in another twist, Scatec has insisted only vaccinated employees were allowed to attend the Christmas party last Friday and they needed a negative test result beforehand.  

One of the company’s super-spreaders was also drinking in an Irish bar in the city the following night, raising fears more could be infected.

More than 71 per cent of Norway’s population are fully vaccinated, higher than the 69 per cent of Brits and 59 per cent of Americans who have had both jabs.

It is still not known if Omicron is faster spreading or more deadly than the dominant Delta strain with scientists insisting they need three weeks to study the data, leaving bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants and millions of Britons in limbo.

And for the businesses shelling out millions on Christmas parties for staff, they are unlikely to get a full  refund unless Boris Johnson changes the formal guidance.

Last year the Government introduced schemes including business grants and furlough for businesses forced to close during the pandemic. These programmes remained in place for the subsequent 18 months and proved to be enormously costly but proved a lifeline for businesses.

The hospitality industry erupted with fury at the move, with some branding it a lockdown by stealth and bosses warning a wave of cancellations that have hit them could cost the sector ‘billions’.

Urging people not to call off festive celebrations, UK Hospitality chief Kate Nicholls told MailOnline: ‘Individual businesses will have their own booking policies in place and a larger number than usual have been asking for deposits for larger group bookings this year.

‘However, others won’t have any contingencies in place and all will incur significant costs for last-minute cancellations.

‘It should be remembered that operators have invested heavily to ensure the safety of staff and customers, focusing on better ventilation, hygiene and sanitation, measures which SAGE recommends are the most effective ways to control infection and as a result hospitality venues are safer places in which to socialise than at home.’

George Freeman is the fifth minister to give different advice about festive parties with half of businesses cancelling this year costing UK hospitality ‘billions’. His boss Boris Johnson has insisted that there is no need to cancel this year and ‘people should live their lives’ because he is ‘confident this Christmas will be better than the last’.

Plunging party plans into further chaos this morning, Mr Freeman said larger companies might consider cancelling their staff Christmas parties. He said: ‘It slightly depends on the nature of the business. For many small businesses, four or five staff, who are working together every day anyway, gathering to have a drink isn’t a big step up in risk. 

‘But some companies might normally bring hundreds of people in from around the world to a big party, and they may decide, this year, is that sensible given the pandemic and given where we are? In the end, I think business people know how to make those decisions’.

He added: ‘I haven’t been kissed under the mistletoe for years. I can tell you that my parliamentary team and I normally have a Christmas party. We’ve decided this year that it is probably sensible to do it by Zoom and wait for the spring. It won’t be the best party in the world’. 

Sacha Lord, the night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said the advice from UK Health Security Agency head Dr Jenny Harries on Tuesday that people should not socialise unnecessarily – which kicked off the row – had been ‘catastrophic for the industry’.  

He told Sky News: ‘In the last 48 hours it’s been catastrophic for the industry. We’ve seen office parties cancelled, flights are cancelling, it’s been a huge domino effect. This isn’t just restaurants, this is the whole ecology around it – it’s the supply chain, it’s the taxis, it’s hotel rooms, it’s everything that goes with it. 

‘December is a time when people can have a good time – they can take up to 25 per cent of their annual turnover in December. Sadly, at the eleventh hour, it’s been snatched away from them.’ 

He also said this week: ‘If the hospitality sector is not supported and closes in December, it will be the final nail in the coffin for many of our beloved venues.’  

It comes as major companies including NatWest, Aviva and Deutsche Bank said all staff would have to take a lateral flow test before attending their Christmas parties. The trio and several other big firms also said events would be limited to teams rather than full-staff.

Legal & General decided in October that Christmas celebrations should be kept small and team-based; Microsoft is holding a large ‘virtual’ party’; while Lloyd’s decided to hold its annual staff bash in the summer. 

The row over Christmas parties and the new Covid-19 regulations, enshrined in law until March, came as: 

Germany will lock down its unvaccinated citizens while parliament debates making jabs mandatory, Angela Merkel said as she threw her weight behind the move;The super-mutant Omicron variant has outpaced Delta to become the dominant strain in South Africa in just a week, it was revealed today after infections soared sixfold in the days after its discovery; British ministers bought 114million more doses of coronavirus vaccines that can be tweaked to protect against new variants with fourth or even fifth boosters planned until 2023;    No 10 insists its staff ‘followed the guidance’ amid reports that a Christmas party contravening social distancing rules was held there last December;Businesses allow staff to work from home and bring back mask wearing and temperature checks in the office; Shamed Matt Hancock apologises again in first TV interview since losing his job and wife over office affair and declares: ‘I’ve blown up every part of my life’;

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the trade body UK Hospitality, said ministers’ comments would have a serious financial impact on their businesses. 

Advertising supremo Sir Martin Sorrell said there had been a ‘sharp series of cancellations’ in Christmas parties since the emergence of the Omicron variant. 

More than half (52 per cent) of UK workplaces have chosen not to hold a Christmas office party, according to a poll of 2,000 staff by Covid testing firm Prenetics. 

Yesterday Sajid Javid was the first to spark anger from hospitality bosses after he urged partygoers to take a Covid test. The Health Secretary even suggested they should consider wearing a face mask. Yet one of his health ministers, Gillian Keegan, urged: ‘Continue with your Christmas plans, continue with your nativity plays and your Christmas parties.’

Last night Therese Coffey sent more mixed messages on socialising after she warned people to avoid ‘snogging under the mistletoe’ over the holiday period.

And there was more chaos on Tuesday when Dr Harries said people should limit socialising in December. This sparked suspicion among Tory MPs that she was being set up as the fall guy by ministers who are too scared to admit further restrictions are likely.  

Despite Mr Freeman insisting ‘the Government has set out clear guidance’, there appears to be a 50-50 split between live and virtual Christmas parties. Some will wait until next year.

Richard Corrigan, chef and patron of Corrigan’s Mayfair, said: ‘This was the Christmas that was supposed to save us. Clearly, that’s not going to happen. We’ve had substantial enough corporate cancellations. It’s shown on the bookings as well. It’s not business as usual. By next April, there will be an absolute crisis in hospitality.’

Russell Norman of Bruto told the Telegraph: ‘If there’s one thing I’ve noticed from our customers it is absolute confusion. People don’t know if they should wear masks on arrival, as they move between the table and the bar, or to the loos. People are waiting for a solid, confident message. They are nervous and they want guidance’. 

Andrew Andrea, the boss of Marston’s, which runs 1,500 pubs and hotels across the UK, said the company had already been seeing bookings on a smaller scale this Christmas before the Omicron fears. He said: ‘We have seen a lot more bookings for 15 to 30 people, instead of the 60-plus bookings we saw more of before Covid.’

Ms Nicholls said: ‘I think you are seeing once again a return of uncertainty. It’s quite clear the messaging over the weekend had a chilling effect on consumer confidence and we are starting to see a small number of cancellations.

‘It’s a trickle at the moment… but we need that message to be reinforced more strongly to put an end to the uncertainty and the threat of a stop-start to the economy again in the run up to Christmas.’

She added: ‘I think there’s also a sense of trepidation that their plans might be disrupted again, and so that irrespective of whether there are government controls imposed on the economy, that is having a cooling effect undoubtedly on hospitality.

‘We already saw that bookings were subdued this year compared to pre-pandemic levels. And this will clearly have a further adverse impact on our businesses.’

Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, called for more clarity from government.

‘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,’ he said.

‘If that advice is to carry on with plans – with protective measures like hand sanitiser, screens, ventilation, masks and testing in place, which small firms have already been investing in these past 18 months – then that needs to be made crystal clear.’ 

There has been a ‘sharp series of cancellations’ in Christmas parties since the emergence of the Omicron variant, according to the executive chairman of a major ad agency.

Sir Martin Sorrell, of S4Capital, said there is ‘extreme’ uncertainty.

Asked if they were cancelling office parties, he told the BBC Radio Four Today programme: ‘It’s not so much what we’re doing as what we see our clients doing and other people.

‘The answer is they are doing that, they are cancelling, (there has) been quite a sharp series of cancellations since this happened just, what, three, four, five days ago.

‘So, the uncertainty is extreme and Government policy, understandably, I mean to be a little bit sympathetic to the Government, it is an extremely difficult situation.

‘We have been through this before with Delta and the previous variants, so you would have thought the Government would be a little bit more prepared for what may or may not happen in terms of scenario planning.’ 

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.   

Sajid Javid was the first to spark anger from hospitality bosses after he urged partygoers to take a Covid test. The Health Secretary even suggested they should consider wearing a face mask

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey then went further, and 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’.   

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. Events company DesignMyNight has said that festive party cancellations jumped 15 per cent after the prime minister’s first press conference on Saturday – with more after he spoke on Tuesday. 

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 on Tuesday evening 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.

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.  

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.