Javid: I’ll cut down on hugs from mum

He told ‘The Andrew Marr Show’ on BBC One: “If I’m going to see my mum, for example, who’s elderly, like most very old people, she’s more vulnerable than younger people.

“You know, I will take a test and you know, I might, you know, just have not the usual amount of hugs I get from my mum.

“You just take a little bit of caution. I think that’s a sensible response.”

Mr Javid said it remained an “individual decision” whether people went to Christmas parties.

He said many of the festive gatherings he had been invited to had been cancelled or scaled back, adding: “I think that’s true up and down the country.”

But he said the situation was not “a lockdown at all, by any means”.

“What it is, is people taking their own individual decisions,” he said.

The health secretary said the “big difference with Christmas last year” was the existence of vaccinations, antiviral medication, other treatments for Covid-19 and the testing system.

But Mr Javid did not rule out new coronavirus measures before Christmas, describing advice from government scientific advisors warning of the possible impact on hospital admissions from omicron as “sobering”.

Mr Javid also said he understood why people might question why they should follow coronavirus restrictions if it appears Whitehall had not, but expressed confidence that the public would respond to any new rules.

He told ‘Trevor Phillips On Sunday’ on Sky News: “If we do have to take further measures as the situation develops, if we have to do that, then I believe the British people will respond in the same way they have throughout this pandemic, where is they understand the issues, they know just how important it is for them and their families, and they will respond accordingly.”