The SHOCK number of Geordies locked out from Christmas and New Year events and venues under new Covid rules

Tens of thousands of people in Newcastle will be banned from large events and venues under the Government's new Covid restrictions.

MPs approved the new Plan B measures on Tuesday, December 14, despite rebellions in both the Conservative and Labour parties.

The new measures include the introduction of a Covid passport to enter large events and venues.

That includes Newcastle United's Premier League clashes and clubs that are busy this time of year with Christmas parties.

Covid passports can be shown either by proof of vaccination or by showing a negative lateral flow test.

However, the latter is proving tricky with supplies of lateral flow tests running short across the country.

The latest vaccination date provided by NHS England shows that an eye-watering 49,562 people in Newcastle upon Tyne are still yet to receive a single vaccine.

That's roughly equivalent to the size of a sold-out St. James' Park, which can hold 52,305, all of whom will not be able to attend sports matches and enter certain venues.

Those numbers don’t include North Tyneisde where 17,258 people are unvaccinated, South Tyneside where there are 18,218 and Gateshead where there are 24,552.

The figures include all over-12s and is the latest data, made available on December 5.

The area of Newcastle with the highest proportion of unvaccinated people is Shieldfield & Heaton Park, where just 50.4% of the population have had a vaccine.

The new Covid passport rules are in place in the country from today, Wednesday, December 15.

A total of 99 Tory MPs voted against the measures, which still managed to pass thanks to Labour support.

The Prime Minister addressed the nation on Sunday evening about the new wave of the Omicron variant.

He said: "I'm afraid we're now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant Omicron.

"It is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.

"But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose, a booster dose, we can all bring our level of protection back up.

"At this point our scientists cannot say that Omicron is less severe.

"And even if that proved to be true, we already know it is so much more transmissible that a wave of Omicron through a population that was not boosted would risk a level of hospitalisation that could overwhelm our NHS and lead sadly to very many deaths."

Anyone over the age of 18 is now able to book their Covid booster jabs via the NHS online booking system.