As the nation continues to grapple with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of young revellers have been caught flouting socia...
As the nation continues to grapple with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of young revellers have been caught flouting social distancing guidelines.
The group of more than 20 people were seen dancing, drinking and having a barbecue in an outdoor basketball court in Tower Hamlets, East London, at 8pm today despite the Covid-19 lockdown still in force.
The scenes come as the UK continues to control the spread of coronavirus which has now claimed the lives of 34,796 people across the UK.
Footage from the scene today showed the group defying the government guidelines by congregating inside the outdoor space and appearing to hold a party.
The group of young revellers were filmed flouting social distancing guidelines by gathering in an outdoor basketball court in Tower Hamlets, East London, at 8pm today
The group could be seen dancing, drinking and having a barbecue inside the court this evening
Some members of the group were seen riding their bikes while others appeared to be inhaling from balloons.
Elsewhere a crate of ice filled with drinks stood in the corner as members of the group continued to socialise.
The scenes comes just days after police in Telford were forced to shut down a 70-person rave at the Granville Country Park in Shropshire.
In a series of tweets, officers explained they were 'shocked that people would care so little' about the restrictions on social gathering, which have been in place for weeks due to the pandemic.
The continuing defiance among some Britons to abide by the lockdown measures comes as the government today announced that people should now self-isolate if they lose their sense of smell or taste as it could be a symptom of coronavirus.
During a Downing Street press conference Chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said officials hope adding the symptom to the list would help doctors detect three per cent more patients.
The announcement signalled the first change to the coronavirus policy since the beginning of the outbreak.
He said: 'With a cough or fever, sensitivity was around 91 per cent,' he said in a telephone briefing this morning. By adding anosmia, in terms of case pick-up, we think that might go to 94 per cent.'
The group of revellers continued to flout the government lockdown measures still in place across the country
Some members of the group blew balloons and sipped on beverages as they gathered inside the basketball court
The epidemiologist also admitted that the country may have to 'live with' the coronavirus for several years as scientists desperately try to find a vaccine which was 'capable of suppressing disease levels'.
He said: 'So from that perspective we may have to live, and learn to live, with this virus in the long-term, certainly for many months to come if not several years.'
He added: 'One of the things that's very clear with flu viruses is that they come in our cold winters and the levels of transmission and circulation decline over the summer months.
'The data we have on other coronaviruses we have looked at very carefully, and it's not clear that these coronaviruses are as seasonal as influenza.
This week officers in Telford explained they were 'shocked that people would care so little' about the restrictions on social gathering
'But there may be an element of seasonality and it may well be that the autumn and winter conditions provide a better environment for the virus to then do its work again.'
Today it was confirmed that Britain's coronavirus death toll was on a downward trend today after officials announced 160 more victims.
The daily figure, which was confirmed this afternoon by the Department of Health, is the lowest since March 24 , the first official day of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's lockdown.
During this afternoon's daily briefing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also confirmed that the government has now hired 21,000 contact tracers for the UK's 'test, track and trace' plan for easing lockdown.
During a Downing Street press conference Chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the country may have to 'live with' the coronavirus for several years
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