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The crowded scenes of the first Christmas shopping weekend after the blockade eased in England has raised fears about the lack of social distancing and the risk of the spread of the coronavirus.
Even though the overall influx was low in the same period last year, images emerged on Sunday of busy streets with shoppers standing together, and a Christmas market in Nottingham had to be closed for good within 24 hours of opening. Additionally, four people were arrested when a crowd tried to enter Harrods in London’s West End.
Jeremy Farrar, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), criticized the hectic shopping scenes. who warned “What we do now will define the UK epidemic from December to February before vaccines are widely available.”
Farrar, who is the director of the Wellcome Trust, added: “Vaccines are yet to come, we can look to a future beyond the pandemic in 2021. But not yet, we have very difficult weeks and months ahead.”
Nottingham Market was closed on Sunday after an outcry over images shared on social media showing hundreds of people packed into the event the day before, despite the city having been placed at the highest level of restrictions. of coronavirus earlier in the week.
The organizer, Mellors Group, initially said it had made the decision to temporarily close the market due to an unprecedented influx. However, on Sunday night, the event firm said it would be closed for the rest of the year.
In a joint statement with Nottingham City Council, Mellors Group said: “Access control plans have been put in place to help manage the number of people entering the site at any given time and monitor this continuously throughout Saturday. However, the numbers were too large to implement effectively. ”
Several people on social media asked why the event had been allowed to continue while the hotel industry faced strict restrictions. Similar events in Birmingham and Manchester have been canceled. Markets can trade under level 3 restrictions, but bars, pubs and restaurants are take out only.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people were photographed huddled in front of the Harrods department store on Saturday afternoon, prompting similar criticism about the lack of social distancing and masks.
Metropolitan police said officers had been called to the store around 1:00 pm for “reports of a large group of people attempting to enter a store.” The force said four men were arrested, including two for breaching Covid regulations.
The chaotic scenes came despite warnings from scientists about the risks associated with gathering indoors, and a government scientist said Christmas shoppers should spend no more than 15 minutes in a store.
Sage’s advisor Professor Lucy Yardley told Times Radio: “The rule that is useful for contact tracing is that if you spend 15 minutes with someone within 2 meters, you have definitely had a potentially infectious contact with them.” .
Social media was also flooded with images of crowds of Christmas shoppers on Regent Street and Covent Garden in London.
Despite crowded scenes in some part of the country, the number of visitors to main streets and shopping malls dropped by more than a third at this time last year.
Figures from retail analyst Springboard showed that, although more than twice as many people visited UK main streets as the previous Saturday, the numbers were still 38% below the first Saturday in December last year.
London’s West End and England’s shopping malls saw the largest visitor jumps, increasing by 140% and 173% respectively compared to last weekend, but again below 2019 figures.
Only commercial parks, which are predominantly located on city limits and accessible by car, roughly matched last year’s figures, just 7% less than in 2019 on Wednesday, when national parking rules were relaxed. closing, and 2% higher than last Saturday. .
Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s chief marketing and information officer, said there were nonetheless positive signs, with figures 63% higher than on June 20, the first Saturday after the initial UK lockdown ended.
Others said lost business days and attempts by retailers to lure shoppers with pre-Christmas sales could mean more business collapses in 2021. The level of bad debt in retail has risen 48% in 2020 to 87 , 6 million pounds, well above the levels in the economy in general, according to the analysis of Red Flag Alert.
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