Relax, kids. Two Melbourne researchers have declared the man in the red suit is safe to visit more than two billion children this COVID-19 Christmas.

Calculating Santa’s chances of spreading more than goodwill in a pandemic, University of Melbourne public health doctor Associate Professor Nathan Grills and La Trobe University epidemiologist Dr Hassan Vally conclude his deliveries can go ahead. 

They’ve used their epidemiological and public health expertise to help Saint Nicholas weigh up the risks and benefits and devise a COVID‐safe plan.

In a review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, they have found he would be unlikely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 before setting out on Christmas Eve as he lives in a coronavirus-free North Pole village.