Brits flock to pubs for first time in months as U.K. lockdown eases
12 April 2021
People in the U.K. are enjoying some semblance of normalcy — and pouring their first pints in public — after COVID-19 restrictions eased at midnight Monday, allowing non-essential locations like salons, gyms and pubs to reopen for the first time since January.
Why it matters: Britain's partial reopening has dovetailed one of the world's most successful vaccination campaigns, sharply curbing a COVID-19 outbreak that has killed more people than in any other country in Europe.
- 40 million doses have been administered in the U.K., with over 48% of people receiving at least their first dose, according to Bloomberg's vaccine tracker.
- The next phase in the U.K.'s reopening roadmap will see the return of indoor entertainment and possibly international travel on May 17, assuming certain criteria are met. The government is aiming to lift all restrictions on social contact on June 21.
In photos
Shoppers carry bags in central London Monday. Photo: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A customer drinks in an outdoor seating area in Warwick, U.K., on Monday. Photo: Darren Staples/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A solid start to the new reality of outdoor dining in Cranleigh this morning. pic.twitter.com/uSSd88nHdV
— Martin Bamford (@martinbamford) April 12, 2021
Terry Morris, mayor of Warwick, right, and Mandy Littlejohn, cheers with their drinks in an outdoor seating area set up in the car park of The Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel in Warwick, U.K., on Monday Photo: Darren Staples/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A shopper on Oxford Street in London. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Customers at the reopening of the Figure of Eight pub, in Birmingham, U.K. Photo: Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images
Customers enjoy a drink at an outside table after the Half Moon pub re-opened in east London Photo: Niklas Hallen'n/AFP via Getty Images
John Witts enjoys a drink at the reopening of the Figure of Eight pub, in Birmingham. Photo: Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.