The rallies took place despite the police warning that they would have “no hesitation” in fining those who willfully break the rules.
Nottingham officially moved to Level 3 at 12:01 a.m. today, and the new rules will include a ban on buying alcohol in stores after 9 p.m.
Some of the young people appeared to be celebrating Halloween two days earlier. A few police vehicles were present in the city center, as well as an ambulance.
Earlier Thursday, Deputy Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “Unfortunately there has been a minority of people who think the legislation does not apply to them and we have been forced to take action and in some case, to impose fines on them.
“Last week we fined four people £ 10,000 for throwing parties with over 30 people in attendance, as well as numerous £ 200 fines for people breaking the law without cause. ”
She added that people who break the rules “without regard to the impact of their actions on families and key frontline workers” will be fined.
Kay Cutts, the head of Nottinghamshire County Council, said the 9pm alcohol ban was called for to prevent students from partying.
She told reporters: ‘This is something that has destroyed Nottinghamshire a bit… young people never think they are going to catch anything. “
Young people – some in disguise – seemed to be celebrating Halloween early
Several police cars and an ambulance were present in the city center
Similar scenes were seen on the streets of Liverpool the night before the level 3 restrictions were imposed in mid-October.
After images of large crowds in Concert Square were posted on social media, doctors in intensive care told Sky News they were “disgusted” by what had happened, adding: “They don’t care. not that people are dying from this disease, it’s heartbreaking to watch. ”
Nottinghamshire Director of Public Health Jonathan Gribbin said the number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals is now 40% higher than the peak of the first wave in April.
He warned that “even a well-organized NHS and care system will struggle to cope” with the surge in patient numbers.
As of October 27, 361 beds in the county were occupied by people with COVID-19 – but that number rose to 413 a day later.
“I think right away that gives you an indication of how fast it’s increasing,” he said.
Several cancer operations have had to be postponed in Nottinghamshire due to “the pressure on the intensive care units”.
As Nottinghamshire enters level 3 – and West Yorkshire is expected to follow suit on Monday – 11 million people will now be living in the highest level of coronavirus restrictions. This represents 19.6% of the population.
The Tees Valley and West Midlands could also be moved to level 3, meaning millions more could soon be under England’s tightest lockdown level.
Meanwhile, NHS England data shows the number of beds occupied by confirmed coronavirus patients more than doubled in two weeks – from 4,105 on October 13 to 8,595 on Tuesday.
There were also 743 COVID-19 patients in mechanical ventilation beds on Tuesday, up from 560 a week earlier.
The NHS testing and tracing system also recorded its highest weekly number of positive cases on record, while an Imperial College London study found nearly 100,000 people catch COVID-19 daily.
With France entering a second lockdown from today and Germany imposing a partial four-week lockdown, the UK government is under pressure to take a more national approach to tackling soaring infection rates.
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Patel refuses to rule out national lockdown
Interior Minister Priti Patel said the government had not ruled anything out.
Government figures on Thursday showed there had been 23,065 more laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK, and 280 more people died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Welfare also said more than a dozen regions would drop from the lowest to the mid-level restrictions on Saturday.
Ceux-ci incluent East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston-upon-Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Dudley, Staffordshire, Telford, The Wrekin, Amber Valley, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, Derby City, South Derbyshire, l’ensemble de High Peak, Charnwood , Luton et Oxford.
