With Christmas three days away, Gov. Charlie Baker announced new temporary restrictions Tuesday aimed at combating the spread of Covid-19 in the commonwealth.

Starting Saturday, capacity limits will be lowered to 25 per cent nearly across the board, including in restaurants, retail shops, gyms, fitness centers and movie theatres. Indoor and outdoor gathering limits will be reduced to 25 people outside and 10 people inside, including for events and in homes, the governor said.

The restrictions will stay in effect for two weeks.

“This is deemed to be a temporary move,” Mr. Baker told reporters during his daily press briefing Tuesday when the restrictions were announced.

The restrictions also require all hospitals in the state to postpone or cancel all non-essential inpatient elective procedures.

Meanwhile, eight more cases of Covid-19 were reported Tuesday afternoon by the Island boards of health, seven as the result of tests conducted at Martha's Vineyard Hospital and one at TestMV, the site at the high school that focuses on asymptomatic people. One patient remained hospitalized with the virus, according to the hospital website.

A spike in cases and hospitalizations has been under way statewide since Thanksgiving, when travel and large gatherings were widespread despite calls from state health officials for people to stay home and only celebrate with their immediate household members.

The same call now goes out for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Governor Baker said he would “see where the data is” in two weeks in deciding whether to lift the new restrictions.

On the Vineyard a spike in cases began just after Thanksgiving. Daily case counts have stayed steady since then. 

Updated with Tuesday case numbers.