Britishers Continue to Break Lockdown Rules, Imposed with Heavy Fines

The most serious lockdown in England is experienced by Leicestershire, Leicester, and Rutland

British officers issued 142 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN- it allows the offender to pay a fine, in which case the matter is not prosecuted) to the value of £57,800 to residents who disregarded the Covid-19 lockdown rules during the weekend.  

The most serious lockdown in England is experienced by Leicestershire, Leicester, and Rutland. The leaders of these three states held a press conference where they urged residents to stay in and abide by the rules.  

“Over the weekend we dealt with a number incidents where people had no excuse for their behavior,” said Assistant Chief Constable Kerry Smith in an official report. “Some of the reasons for being outside were ridiculous and this is what officers are having to deal with.” 

“We cannot be clearer about how this is the only way to stop the spread of the virus. Stay at home, protect the NHS,” he said. “There really is no excuse this far into the pandemic for people to be taking these risks” 

The Leicestershire Police Department shared a body-worn camera and several CCTV footages of incidents where people were caught meeting their friends and breaking the lockdown rules.  

The UK hit a grim record of 1564 daily death toll of people dying within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, the worst figure since the inception of the pandemic last year. The country’s death tally counts to 84,767

47,525 more people tested positive for the virus, even as London registered a drop in hospitalizations since early December.  

“The situation in the NHS is very serious and the number of people in ICU is rising rapidly,” tweeted Chris Witty, England’s Chief Medical Officer. “We are improving our knowledge on how best to treat people in ICU thanks to research, but hundreds of people a day are currently dying. We must all take the lockdown seriously.”  

However, by the end of Jan 11, 2.4 million people received their first two doses of vaccines in the UK. The government is planning 2 million vaccinations per week with over 2,700 vaccine sites across the UK.  

“By the end of January, everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site or, for a small number of highly rural areas, the vaccine will be brought to them via mobile teams,” the government of UK said in a press release. “There will also be capacity to deliver at least 2 million vaccinations in England per week by the end of January and all residents and staff in over 10,000 care homes across the country will be offered a vaccine by the end of the month.”

(Edited by Gaurab Dasgupta and Megha Virendra Choudhary)