Britons flouted lockdown in their thousands in London today as a market was packed with visitors helping themselves to takeaway beer on the first weekend of new coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Londoners flocked to Broadway Market for drinks and food this afternoon, despite the new guidance to stay at home as much as possible.
People were pictured queuing up for pints outside street food restaurants and packing the streets, with many not wearing face masks.
Takeaway alcohol were originally going to be banned under the new lockdown restrictions but a Government U-turn allowed pubs, bars and hospitality venues to serve them.
It comes as parks remained bustling, with runners, walkers and cyclists seen at Bridgewater Canal in Manchester this morning, as people can exercise and socialise in public spaces with their household or one other person.
Costco in Watford, Hertfordshire, was also heaving with customers, who were spotted pushing trolleys piled high with toilet rolls, booze and water bottles.
And police were seen walking past the busy Olympic Studios Cafe and Bar in Barnes, London, today as revellers enjoyed drinks outside the pub.
Londoners queue at a street food restaurant for takeaway pints and food in a crowded Broadway Market this afternoon on the first weekend of new coronavirus lockdown restrictions
People without face masks pack the streets in a crowded Broadway Market this afternoon, as the second national lockdown continues
A man and a woman without face masks drink takeaway pints in the street at Broadway Market in London this afternoon
Two police officers can be seen patrolling around a crowded Broadway Market this afternoon, as the second national lockdown continues
Police are seen walking past the busy Olympic Studios Cafe and Bar in Barnes, London, today as revellers enjoy drinks outside the pub
The Princess of Wales in Primrose Hill serves takeaway drinks this afternoon during the second lockdown in England
Hundreds of people walk through the busy streets at Broadway Market in London despite the second England-wide coronavirus lockdown
A restaurant serves a draught beer to a man wearing a face mask at Broadway Market in London this afternoon as businesses stayed open
Long queues for takeaway alcohol form outside restaurants in Broadway Market, London, today as revellers take advantage of the rules allowing drinks to be served despite the second lockdown
The UK has today confirmed a further 24,957 positive Covid tests, up just 13.9 per cent on last week’s total as top scientists suggest the UK’s second wave of coronavirus has already peaked
A further 413 people have died after testing positive for the virus, official figures released today have revealed, bringing the UK’s total death toll during the pandemic to 48,888
Pubs in north London also opened for business today, with The Princess of Wales in Primrose Hill and The Draft House in Camden Town serving drinks to customers.
People in Borough Market took advantage of the loophole allowing restaurants and pubs to serve takeaway drinks this afternoon.
The images come amid warnings that the country needed ‘dramatic action’ to reduce Covid-19 transmission, despite the Government’s ‘ghastly’ presentation of data to justify the latest lockdown.
The UK today confirmed a further 24,957 positive Covid tests, up just 13.9 per cent on last week’s total, as top scientists suggest the UK’s second wave of coronavirus has already peaked.
Today’s cases – which is a rise of just 3,045 on last Saturday’s total of 21,915 – comes on the first weekend of the country’s controversial second lockdown.
A further 413 people have died after testing positive for the virus, official figures released today have revealed, bringing the UK’s total death toll during the pandemic to 48,888.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter said it would not be sustainable for the health service to deal with the levels of coronavirus cases and hospitalisations without tougher measures than those imposed under the three-tier system.
The statistician and chair of the Winton Centre for risk and evidence communication at the University of Cambridge told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: ‘If this is going to go down, it is going to go down very slowly unless some dramatic action is taken, which has been taken.’
Two women walk through the busy market while drinking from open bottles. People also enjoyed draught beers after a potential loophole allows pubs serve takeaway pints
Police patrol the market in cars as Londoners socialise and stand in large huddles despite the new lockdown restrictions this weekend
Londoners photographed in a crowded Broadway Market this afternoon, as the second national lockdown continues
People in Borough Market took advantage of the loophole allowing restaurants and pubs to serve takeaway drinks this afternoon
Groups of young men and women socialise and stand together while enjoying takeaway draught beer at Borough Market in London this afternoon
A man holding two takeaway draught beers walk through Borough Market while wearing a face mask in London today
Londoners flock to the busy Olympic Studios Cafe and Bar in Barnes today as revellers enjoy drinks in large groups outside the pub
Revellers photographed in a crowded Broadway Market this afternoon, as the second national lockdown continues
People in Borough Market took advantage of the loophole allowing restaurants and pubs to serve takeaway drinks this afternoon
Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been tested as part of a pilot mass coronavirus testing programme in Liverpool, with queues outside new test centres.
The armed forces have been brought in to the city to help deliver the scheme, which uses lateral flow tests to deliver results in under an hour for people who are not showing symptoms of the virus.
Mr Johnson has said the rapid testing pilot could be a ‘real way forward through the crisis’.
But health experts said plans to screen the population of Liverpool were not fit for purpose.
Sir David said: ‘The point is we are getting about 20-25,000 positive tests a day, that feeds through to about 1,500 hospitalisations a day, about 250-300 deaths a day and these are broadly stable but going up a bit – the deaths in hospitals and hospitalisations are going up slowly – and we are coming into winter.
‘Those sorts of levels, even if they stay very stable and below the first peak of the virus, unless they start dropping, we are stuck with those for months and it seems to me and others that that’s not going to be sustainable in terms of what the health service can deal with.’
The R rate of the coronavirus dropped in five regions of England this week – except London and the South East, where it did not change – and stayed stable at between 1.1 and 1.3 in England and the UK as a whole. Last week marked a drop from 1.2 to 1.4 the week before
The slides now contain a note which says: ‘Plots on slides four and five have been amended after an error was found’
The revised figures now suggest the second peak is likely to be on par with the first with the worst-case scenario at 1,010 deaths a day by December
A group of academics said the potential for ‘harmful diversion of resources and public money is vast’, and warned the half-a-billion-pound project could be a ‘costly failure’.
The Government is expected to announce on Saturday that the blanket provisions allowing all pubs in England to serve takeaway food and drink will be extended, while Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and The Lowry in Salford are among eight cultural organisations and venues which will benefit from the latest round of coronavirus funding.
New data shows the rate of infections across England and Wales appears to be slowing down.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said an estimated 618,700 people in England – one in 90 – had Covid-19 between October 25 and 31, up from 568,100 the week before.
The Government and its scientific advisers were lambasted yesterday for using ‘dodgy data’ to justify a devastating second lockdown, with Tory MPs warning SAGE’s doomsday predictions had echoes of the controversial dossier that sent Britain to war with Iraq.
It emerged a graph brandished at a press conference by Professors Doom and Gloom that claimed England could see up to 1,500 deaths a day by December had been secretly toned down ‘after an error was found’ with the data.
The prediction caused widespread alarm because, if true, it would dwarf the 1,000 daily deaths recorded during the peak of the first wave in April.
SAGE’s forecast for hospital admissions was also quietly revised from 9,000 by early December to 6,190.
The Government faced a stern rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority this week over its use of data.