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Students locked up by the coronavirus in their residences have been partying until the early hours after the university allowed larger ‘bubbles’, neighbors say.
Some 1,500 Manchester Metropolitan University students have been told to isolate themselves in the Birley and Cambridge corridors for fifteen days after a Covid-19 outbreak.
But local residents say the youths have had late-night parties and security guards said they couldn’t enter the building to tell them to be quiet.
It follows students who were allowed to mingle between homes after MMU said Sunday that they can regard their entire hallways, not just their floor, as a ‘bubble’.
Meanwhile, shocking photographs showed students in Nottingham lining up to get into a party, blatantly disobeying the rule of six and social distancing guidelines.
Nottingham Trent University students queue up to enter a club on Tuesday around 7pm
Queues for entry to Nottingham Trent University Student Rookie Event on Tuesday
Student representatives and university staff were also seen trying to enforce social distancing measures Tuesday night at the Nottingham Trent University event for students.
In Manchester, a neighbor told the Manchester Evening News: “I complained to security at 1am and they told me they couldn’t enter the building to tell them to shut up.
“ It started on Friday, I was watching TV and it got to a quiet point and I realized that I could hear music across the street.
“ I went outside and I could see that there was a party inside a flat and then I realized that there was also noise outside. There was also a party in the courtyard.
‘It was absolutely ridiculous. With no social distancing, blasting music, the security guards hung around the gates for a while and then just left.
The resident estimated that there were at least 50 students partying outside, and said he had received an apology from the university after emailing officials.
In the East Midlands, dozens of Nottingham Trent University freshmen clustered on the sidewalks outside a club, and many were not wearing masks.
Hundreds of revelers took to the streets of Portsmouth on Tuesday after 10pm
Amid fears over the threat of a second wave of coronavirus, council officials were seen walking along the queue outside Rock City reminding revelers of a guide.
Representatives of university students and staff were also seen trying to enforce the measures with little effect.
The university had been criticized for allowing a rookie week despite not having testing facilities for students.
Elsewhere, an outbreak of 32 cases at the University of Swansea has been linked to a ‘super spreader’ who attended a house party.
Andrew Rhodes, Registrar and Director of Operations at Swansea University, said the infected person “who came from outside the area caused the transmission of the virus.”
It was tied to an event on September 12. He said, “In terms of everyone who tested positive, there were 32; all of those students were from a particular party.”
Students were warned that they risk being expelled from their courses if they are caught breaking Covid-19 rules. So far, warnings have been issued to six students.
The university has yet to adopt measures restricting students to its hallways, as seen in Manchester, as cases have been confirmed in private hallways so far and none have been reported on campus.
Mr. Rhodes said, “There are some students who have had more fun than they should have, but the vast majority have been brilliant.”
Swansea University has a student population of 23,000 students, spanning both the Swansea Bay and Singleton campuses, including 15,000 students in private accommodation.
Meanwhile, video footage emerged yesterday showing another student party in Liverpool.
It shows a large group of students said to be from the city’s John Moores University huddled in a common room in the corridors of Cambridge Court signing and dancing to Dizzee Rascal’s song Bonkers.
Fifty students at London’s Royal College of Music also isolate themselves after an outbreak at a residence.
In the West Midlands, more than 200 students gathered for an illegal rave in defiance of Covid-19 rules at a student residence at Coventry University.
A movie of the loud party with students singing, shouting and dancing on tables was shared online, prompting widespread condemnation.
In the video, students can be seen hugging as some climb onto a table tennis table to dance for the crowd.
It was taken at Arundel House, near the main campus of the university, and posted online with the caption “Do not sleep in the VOC.”
The city of Coventry has seen its infection rate rise from 30 per 100,000 two weeks ago to more than 70, while there have been five confirmed cases at the university.
Police said they were called to the private management room in the early hours of Tuesday following reports of “a large gathering of students.”
Officers said they would examine the video and CCTV footage and take further action if evidence emerged that the party had been planned.
The forces were given powers in August to fine organizers of illegal parties and raves of more than 30 people up to £ 10,000.
Ian Dunn, the university’s chancellor, described the images as “outrageous and deeply unfair.”
He told the BBC that the university was taking the incident “very seriously” and was confident that its code of conduct had been violated.
Other city centers were busy with students on nights out, trying to make the most of their first weeks at university despite restrictions on how many people can meet.
Hundreds of revelers took to the streets of Portsmouth.
Government guidance states that only groups of six or fewer are allowed to meet and students have been told to limit socializing, stay in separate “homes” and be taught in managed groups.
Up to 4,000 students in Britain are now believed to self-isolate for fifteen days after more than 500 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in at least 32 universities.
It comes as Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said moving university lectures online would be a “ sensible ” way to reduce coronavirus transmission on campuses after the spike in cases.
But it failed to endorse calls for students to receive a refund of their tuition and rent fees as a result.
The Union of Universities and Colleges has called on the prime minister to ensure that online enrollment at universities “becomes the norm” in a move the Labor Party said it supports.
The National Union of Students has been advocating for the refund of tuition fees if the pandemic severely affects the quality of student learning.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said it is up to universities to offer a refund to students forced to self-isolate.
