What it's like to be spending Christmas in Covid quarantine

  • Watch: Steve Fricker on how he'll keep positive during isolation.

A dad from South Devon has said he will be trying to make the most of Christmas Day in quarantine and still "have a laugh" despite cancelling his plans after finding out he needed to isolate.

This comes after an estimated 1.7 million people in the UK had Covid-19 in the week ending December 19, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020, according to the the Office for National Statistics.

Steve Fricker is a dad and part of a family-of-four living in Newton Ferrers. He was meant to have his mum-in-law over on Christmas day and a visit from his nephew, but due to the new Covid Omicron variant, neither will go ahead as planned.

Steve is still determined to make the best of a bad situation, and told ITV News: "When I got the news obviously it's not the greatest news, you don't want to hear it.

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"Because touchwood we've been fine since this new wave's come in.

"But I'm a positive person so I try to keep things positive and have a bit of a laugh, that's what you just do isn't it?"

Steve is not alone in having to change his Christmas plans at the last minute due to Covid. Many more people are having to isolate away from families and change their plans completely.

Carly Ann from Somerset is also facing a Christmas away from family and friends after recently testing positive for coronavirus. She said: "I felt rubbish yesterday from the booster on Tuesday, so did a lateral flow test just in case as we were supposed to be visiting family in Derbyshire.

"It came back positive, so did four more - all positive. I've done a PCR but it will likely be positive too and unlikely to get the results before Xmas."

Rosie Wollacott Phillips, from Paulton, said she will be spending Christmas with just her and her partner this year. She said it is their first Christmas as a married couple, but they will be isolating at home instead of spending it with family.

Jade Wilson also tested positive two days ago so will be isolating until 30 December along with her partner and two children. She said she will also be missing her birthday on the December 28 and a planned Christmas dinner at her parents' house.

There are currently 7,152 known cases of Omicron in the South West of England according to the latest figures from the Health Security Agency, a rise of 1,589 from the day before.

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