The Welsh Minister of Health told Sky News that Christmas will be “very difficult” this year due to social distancing restrictions due to the Coronavirus.
Vaughan Githing said there has to be a “national conversation about the rules we’ll all need to follow” to make sure everyone can have a “company” during the holidays.
He admitted that would be a “dislocation” for some and that he had not hugged his mother for seven months as Wells prepared to enter 17 days after the national lockdown To stop the rise of COVID-19 a second.
A 17-day ‘fire breaker’ goes into effect in Wales
Mr Githing has been pressured over whether family gatherings will be able to proceed, after the National Medical Director for Scotland, Professor Jason Leach, said people should prepare for a ‘digital Christmas’.
He said that the so-called “fire breaker”, which will witness orders to close unnecessary stores from night until Monday, November 9, was necessary to overcome the Corona virus this winter with the high number of cases and deaths.
“We are acting now because we want people to have some company for Christmas,” said Labor politician Kay Burley.
“We have to have a national conversation about the rules that we’ll all need to follow next to make sure people can have some company at Christmas. But it bothers us.
Vaughan Githing said he has not hugged his mom in seven months
“I haven’t been able to hug my mom for seven months now. I’m shopping, but I can’t go home, I can’t see her, I can’t hold her hands and that’s really annoying.
“I want people to feel some sense of normality, but it wouldn’t be like last Christmas.
“It will still be a very difficult kind of Christmas. That’s part of why this patriotic effort is so important – we’re doing it with a heavy heart.”
Social distancing may mean that this Christmas will not be like any other
In England, Chief Treasurer Steve Barclay said, “Few people expect this to be the way it usually is.”
But he added to BBC Radio 4 that a regular Christmas is “a common endeavor for all of us” and everyone should be in a position to “enjoy” it.
He also stressed that the government would not pursue a “circuit breaker” similar to the Welsh government’s plan to push the virus back, saying that the local approach is the best.
Githing said it is “the best possibility to stem the spike that we’re seeing in coronavirus cases.”
He defended the plan to prevent supermarkets from selling some non-essential items such as hair dryers and other electronic products, to avoid forcing other stores to close at a disadvantage.
