SAGE advise suggests we’ll have to endure five extra days of stricter rules for every day of relaxed restrictions over the festive period – more than the two days previously suggested

The UK could suffer almost an extra month of lockdown to ‘pay’ for relaxing strict rules over Christmas.

Public Health England (PHE) now say each day of loosened restrictions to allow families to see each other over the festive period would require five days of stricter rules to make up for it.

That means a five day Christmas holiday would require 25 days of lockdown.

Earlier, PHE advisor Dr Susan Hopkins told a Downing Street briefing we would need “two days of tighter measures” for each day of easing.

But this afternoon PHE confirmed that was wrong.

A spokesman said: “Dr Hopkins was quoting from previously published SAGE modelling.

Scientists this morning confirmed they have drawn up plans the government could use to relax lockdown over Christmas.

Experts told the Downing Street briefing they sent information to the government over the weekend for what could happen over the festive break.

But while the scientists today confirmed a family Christmas may be possible, they warned it could come at a price – tougher rules either side of the break in return.

Asked if “some sort of Christmas” was possible, Dr Hopkins, medical adviser on the Covid-19 response, said: “I think it is”.

Warning that more lockdowns would be needed, she added: “So coming into Christmas, we’ll need to be very careful about the number of contacts we have to reduce transmission before Christmas and get our cases as low as possible.

“Hopefully the government will make the decision that will allow us to have some mixing but we will wait and see what that is.

“And then I think once we’ve got past the Christmas period, if there’s been a release and some socialisation, we’ll all have to be very responsible and reduce those contacts again.”