THOUSANDS of Brits have hit the pubs for their final hurrah of the year ahead of the tough Tier 3 rules introduced in the south-east from midnight.
Yesterday Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire would be put under Tier 3 restrictions tonight.
Some businesses in the city opened their doors from 9am this morning and were offloading pints for as little as 99p in a bid to clear stock before midnight.
Drinkers visited pubs across the capital early this morning to make the most out of their time left in pubs.
One group of friends enjoyed their first round at 10:30 am this morning in a Wetherspoons in south west London.
The pub remained busy all morning serving drinkers their last pint in a pub for 2020.
After Mr Hancock’s announcement, last night pubs and bars filled up with Londoners enduring the freezing weather to sip a pint outside.
Many were seen in high spirits enjoying a festive night out in the busy Soho area as Tier 3 looms for the capital.
Under new rules, only businesses offering takeaway and delivery will be allowed to remain open.
People in Tier 3 are not allowed to meet up with anyone from outside their household, except for in outdoor public places such as parks.
Speaking to MPs on December 14, Matt Hancock said that in some areas the doubling time of the number of new cases is as short as seven days.
The Health Secretary said on Monday afternoon: “When the virus is growing exponentially, there is not a moment to spare.”
“Hospitals across the countries of Essex and Kent are already under pressure, and we know the doubling of cases will be mirrored in hospital admissions, and it only takes a few doublings for the NHS to be overwhelmed,” Mr Hancock said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “This is incredibly disappointing for our businesses who have suffered so much already this year.
“But it’s clear that the virus is accelerating in the wrong direction once again across London and the lives of Londoners are at risk.”
It comes as a new strain of coronavirus which spreads even faster has been identified in large parts of England.
The Health Secretary told MPs that a new “variant” has been discovered in up to 60 places across the UK – and the World Health Organisation has been informed.
In Essex, Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford, Braintree & Chelmsford, Thurrock and South-End-on-Sea borough councils will all be in the toughest measures.
And in Hertfordshire, the areas that will go into Tier 3 are Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and the Three Rivers local authority area.
Over the weekend, drinkers across the UK hit the town in York, Liverpool and London.
At the time those areas were in Tier 2 which allows households to meet indoors and order drinks so long as they are accompanied by “substantial meals”.
Last weekend saw extra Covid cops and marshals being deployed to London to deal with the extra people on the streets.
Sadiq Khan announced the last-minute blitz and said there would be even more “hands, face, space” signs on the capital’s high streets in a desperate attempt to quell the spread of the virus.
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