For nightclubs, this is the first time they have been allowed to open in almost 18 months, and from London to Liverpool, thousands of people danced the night away at “Freedom Day” parties starting at midnight Sunday night. Advertisement“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” clubgoer Lorna Feeney said at Bar Fibre in the northern English city of Leeds. Soon, unmasked clubgoers dancing to a live band’s rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” filled the floor. Infections topped 50,000 per day last week for the first time since January, although COVID-19 deaths remain comparatively low so far. But leading international scientists described England’s “Freedom Day” as a threat to the world, and 1,200 scientists backed a letter to British medical journal Lancet that criticized the Conservative government’s decision.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 19, 2021 10:12 UTC