Just a handful of shoppers were spotted on the streets grabbing their final few presents for Christmas. These pictures were captured today:
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The festive bubble policy across Tier 1, 2 and 3 areas of England will be dramatically scaled back to just Christmas Day, the Prime Minister said. Photo: James Hardisty
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People in Leeds can now only mix with people outside their household or support bubble indoors on Christmas Day. Photo: James Hardisty
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So any plans made in the five days around Christmas will have to be cancelled. Photo: James Hardisty
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Professor Chris Whitty said there had been a “really dramatic increase in the proportion of cases” seen with the new variant. Photo: James Hardisty
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The new variant strain of the virus which causes Covid-19 may be up to 70% more transmissible and could increase the R value by 0.4, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. Photo: James Hardisty
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Screening tests suggested that in the South East 43% of the virus was now the new variant, in the East of England it is 59% and in London 62%. Photo: James Hardisty