Following Johnson’s announcement of a three-tier lockdown system on Monday, only Liverpool and Merseyside have seen the highest-level restrictions imposed. Intensive care beds in the northern city are reportedly 95 percent full, as infections soar.
Some critics, including Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, have claimed that Johnson has lost control of the country, after videos of crowds gathering in the streets of Liverpool just hours before new lockdown measures came into force emerged on Tuesday night.
Reports have also appeared that gym owners in Liverpool and Merseyside will defy lockdown measures and stay open, claiming the government’s decision to close gyms was “irrational.”
The UK is once again one of the most Covid-afflicted countries in the world. On Tuesday, the National Health Service reported 143 Covid deaths – the highest since June. The number of new infections recorded in the past 24 hours was 17,234, bringing the total cases since the pandemic began to 634,920.
