CHRISTMAS parties should NOT be cancelled despite fresh Covid restrictions, Boris Johnson urged tonight.
Within moments of telling Brits to work from home, the PM said festive bashes and nativities can go ahead – but attendees should get tested.
He told a gloomy press conference: "We don't want nativity plays to be cancelled. We think that's ok.
"Currently on what we can see, keep going with Christmas parties but obviously everybody should exercise caution.
"Have ventilation, wash your hands and getting a test before you go is the sensible thing to do to give everybody else at the party the confidence that the person you're meeting is not contagious."
At the press conference the PM announced:
- Compulsory face masks in all indoor settings from FRIDAY
- Working from home except key workers from MONDAY
- Vaccine passports for crowded venues from NEXT WEDNESDAY
- People should NOT cancel their Christmas parties but get tested
- No more restrictions should be expected in the long term
Mr Johnson said following the rules was the best way of guaranteeing a normal Christmas this year.
He said: "The best way to ensure we all have a Christmas as close to normal as possible is to get on with with Plan B – irritating that may be. It is not a lockdown. It is Plan B."
He announced he was toughening the rules as scientists warned the NHS could be swamped by 1,000 daily patients infected with the super-strain.
Flanked by top docs Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the PM relayed sobering evidence that the mutation is doubling between every 2.5 and three days.
Giving a Commons statement at the same time Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs there are 568 confirmed cases variant – but the estimated current number is "probably closer to 10,000".
I GOT NEW RULES
It means people will be required to show they're either double-jabbed or provide a negative test for crowded gatherings.
It applies for nightclubs, indoor events with 500 attendees or large outdoor gatherings like sports games.
From Monday the guidance – but not the law – will change asking all but key workers to work remotely as they did from March last year to July's Freedom Day.
Mr Johnson said: "I know this will be hard for many people, but by reducing your contacts in the workplace, you will help slow transmission."
And from Friday current mask requirements will be extended from just shops and public transport to cover all enclosed spaces like cinemas and theatres.
But you won't have to wear face coverings in impractical places like pubs and gyms.
The PM said: "There'll be of course exemptions where it's not practical, such as when eating, drinking, exercising or singing."
Despite the clampdown the PM hinted that today's Plan B measures could be the final changes – signalling a crackdown on the unvaxxed.
He said: "I don't think we can keep going indefinitely with restrictions on peoples way of life just because a substantial number of people have not got vaccinated. We have to have a national conversation about the way forward."
Sir Patrick also soothed jitters of never-ending curbs: "We are on a road from pandemic to endemic but we are on a bumpy transition to that."
Lockdown-hating Tory MPs are threatening to rebel when the measures go to a vote in Parliament – one even shouted "resign" as Mr Javid stood up.
They also want any measures ruled out after video emerged of No10 aides joking about holding an allegedly lockdown-breaking party last Christmas.
The Institute of Economic Affairs think tank has claimed Plan B would wipe £4billion of the UK economy each month.
But they won't have the numbers to derail it as Labour are backing the changes.
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