Pensioner, 73, puts up Christmas decorations on his house early

A 73-year-old man is on a mission to cheer the people up living on his street by putting up his Christmas decorations early.

Despite it only being the 7th of November, George Ferris from Gravesend in Kent was seen up a ladder in front of his house perfecting his festive display.

George was photographed smiling as he arranged snowmen, reindeer lights and other characters on the ledge of his house on London Road.  

George says he put them up during the Covid-19 pandemic especially for the children who pass by his house everyday on their way to school. 

It comes as England has been plunged into a second national lockdown until December 2, with households banned from mixing and pubs and restaurants closed.

There is concern however that the restrictions may be extended beyond this date and Christmas plans may be thrown into jeopardy.

However Boris Johnson has promised that these restrictions are in place now so that people can enjoy ‘as normal Christmas as possible’.    

It comes as Downing Street yesterday refused calls for England’s second lockdown to be cut short and insisted it will run until December 2.

This is despite four more sets of real-world data that show the second wave was already shrinking before the Government pushed the panic button on a drastic month-long shutdown.

Promising figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – which runs a massive government surveillance scheme that randomly swabs tens of thousands of people to track the size of the outbreak – suggest that the country’s coronavirus outbreak has shrunk.

It estimated the number of people getting infected each day dropped 12 per cent in a week from 51,900 to 45,700 in the seven-day spell ending on October 31 – the same day Boris Johnson announced the country was heading into another economically-crippling lockdown.

Department of Health figures yesterday confirmed another 355 people had died of Covid-19 across the UK, which was an increase of nearly a third from last Friday, while another 23,287 tested positive, marking a five per cent fall in the week in another sign that infections have stopped rising.

MailOnline’s analysis of Public Health England (PHE) statistics showed more than half of local authorities scattered across England saw their infection rates fall at the end of October. And rates even fell in areas that weren’t in Tier Two or Three lockdowns, suggesting national rules such as the 10pm curfew and rule of six were helping.

Other academics behind a symptom-tracking app are adamant the country’s second wave has already peaked and is over. Even SAGE – Number 10’s advisory panel which spooked ministers into adopting tougher action based on ‘inaccurate’ models – today admitted there is evidence outbreaks are slowing in ‘some parts’ of England.

And the group of top scientists revealed the UK’s R rate has remained at between 1.1 and 1.3 for the second week in a row. 

It has fallen in five out of seven regions in England, including the North West, North East and the Midlands, where 10million people were already living under the toughest Tier Three curbs.