London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that holiday celebrations in Trafalgar Square won't be held on New Year's eve "in the interests of public safety" and urged people to spend the holiday watching TV.
"This will be very disappointing for many Londoners, but we must take the right steps to reduce the spread of the virus... I'm proud that we will still have an incredible broadcast spectacular to watch on our screens, which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world".
According to Khan, some 65,500 new coronavirus cases have been registered in London over the past week, causing a 29% increase in hospital admissions.
The decision was announced after government experts called for tougher restrictions earlier this month, saying that otherwise, the daily number of new cases could reach between 600,000 and two million by the end of December.