RAVING STUPID
COPS broke up a London rooftop bash and a 100-strong house party yesterday - hours after the UK recorded its worst-ever Covid toll.
London PCs were left "astounded" after selfish revellers mobbed an industrial unit, while in England's second hardest-hit region, scores of people gathered in a village home.
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Officers branded the events "completely unacceptable" as they fined the organisers.
It comes as Britain marked its worst day of the pandemic ever yesterday.
A further 1,564 people were recorded to have died on Wednesday - higher than the daily toll reached during the peak of the first wave.
Positive cases also rose by 47,525, bringing the total number of infections to 3,164,051.
It has also been the deadliest week in the pandemic so far - with an average daily death toll of 931 in the last seven days.
During the first wave of Covid early last year, the highest seven-day average - between April 6 and April 12 - stood at 920.
But as fatalities mount and hospitals reach crisis point, some thoughtless Brits have continued to party.
PCs called to an industrial unit in Southwark last night found at least 20 people partying on a roof.
Locals who called 999 to report loud music cheered officers as they arrived to shut the event in Pages Walk down.
Met Police said they found partygoers drinking, eating and playing music at the gathering.
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Two people were arrested, one on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon, and the second for suspected drug dealing.
Five more were handed fines for breaching coronavirus laws before the party was brought to a halt at 11.30pm.
And in Dulwich Wood, London, speakers, a temporary bar and a DJ booth were discovered in a disused railway tunnel.
Cops called to the site earlier this month discovered locks on the gates, as well as a long black curtain to hide the kit.
Sergeant Jonathan Adams said raves at the tunnel are organised by people who are "most likely spreading Covid and putting themselves and others at risk".
And local councillor Evelyn Akoto called the those behind the parties "dangerous and thoughtless".
“I’m horrified that anyone would have such little regard for themselves or others, that they’d attend an illegal rave at the height of a pandemic," she said.
Meanwhile, police in Hertfordshire were called to a village home after reports dozens of people were at a house party.
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Cops say more than 100 people had gathered at a home in South Mimms, Hertsmere. Music and booze were seized from the group, and a number of people were fined.
One of the visitors was also arrested after an officer was hurt trying to break up the party.
Hertsmere is currently the second worst-hit area in the country for Covid per 100,000 people.
Inspector Kio Bozorgi of Hertforshire Police said: "This is completely unacceptable behaviour.
"With daily deaths over 1,000, there is no good excuse to be breaking the lockdown rules.
"We all have a duty to protect our NHS and help save lives and I would like to take this opportunity to remind residents to do the right thing and respect the rules."
In Swansea, eight people were fined in student area Uplands on Saturday after neighbours called police to a house party in the early hours of the morning.
And in Manchester, a bar manager was fired after holding 'invite only' gatherings in a pub where punters drank beer, played pool, smoked inside and 'sang karaoke', reports.
Officers from Greater Manchester Police found four people hiding upstairs at The Cock Hotel in Denton after a tip-off from a member of the public that people were being let into the pub through the back door.
There have now been more deaths in the second wave than the first
Yvonne Doyle
Under the lockdown, Brits are only allowed to meet with one person from another household, and it must be outside and in a public place for exercise.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said this week that a minority of the public were "putting the health of the nation at risk".
Speaking at a Downing Street press briefing on Tuesday, she said officers are now moving more quickly to issuing fines where people are clearly breaching coronavirus regulations.
And yesterday, Yvonne Doyle, medical director for Public Health England, said the second wave of the pandemic has now caused more than the first.
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She added: "With each passing day, more and more people are tragically losing their lives to this terrible virus and today we have reported the highest number of deaths on a single day since the pandemic began.
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"There have now been more deaths in the second wave than the first.
"About one in three people with Covid-19 don't show symptoms but can still pass it on to others so it is essential that we stay at home, minimise contact with other people and act as if you have the virus."
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