According to sources within the lapland community, the coronavirus outbreak has worsened considerably, as 3 Elves and an as yet unnamed reindeer have been admitted to the Rudolf the red nose reindeer intensive care wing, of the St Nicolas north pole hospital.

A further 10 Elfs, 4 penguins and a friendly polar bear, have now been confirmed as  testing positive for the virus, bringing the total number of confirmed infected to 20. The lapland government, the council of Elves, who implemented strict social distancing rules are now having to consider a full lockdown protocol in the hopes of saving christmas, as the situation seems to be overwhelming the local hospital staff, who appear to be completely under prepared to handle this sort of outbreak.

Lapland head Elf, Pointy MacEars, has issued warnings to workers that they must maintain 2 meter distancing and must wear a face mask at all times while at work in Santa's grotto and/or the reindeer stables. Families are being told that intermingling between house holds is no longer permitted in the hope of slowing the infection rate and giving the hospital time to deal with the quickly escalating number of incoming sick.

Stay tuned and we'll bring you any future updates about Santa and the Northpole cornavirus outbreak as and when they make themselves available. You stay classy steemit, this is Don Rurgundy signing out.