The efforts of governments to control the epidemic have faced many obstacles due to the subjective psychology of a part of the population, especially during the New Year holiday. In Lieuron in the Brittany region of northwestern France, more than 2,500 people violated a curfew by gathering for an illegally organized music event. Clashes occurred when police were sent in to disperse the crowd. Many aggressive subjects even set fire to their cars and threw bottles at the police. Currently prosecutors are opening an investigation into the case.
Meanwhile, in the southern city of Marseille, security forces stopped an illegal party with more than 300 participants.
A French police official said: “Those who violate the curfew when attending New Year’s parties will be tested for SARS-CoV-2 virus. Currently, hospitals in localities can perform 750 tests per day. In addition, these people will also be subject to different fines for violating the regulations ”.
On Twitter, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Jan. 2 said more than 1,200 people attending the party were fined. Of these, about 800 people were fined for illegal partying, curfew violation and not wearing a mask. The remainder were mostly fined for using illegal drugs.
Similarly, Spanish police yesterday also arrested a crowd of parties from New Year’s Eve in Catalonia region for violating Covid-19 epidemic prevention restrictions. Accordingly, about 200 people joined the festival in a village near Barceolona and about 50 people continued to party afterwards. Police arrested the party planner and some protesters. Those arrested will be charged with charges and face a fine of between 300,000 and 600,000 euros.
In some other European countries such as Germany, Sweden … the police have also dispersed the crowd of hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the New Year or small groups of parties, leading to some clashes between the police and the people. .
Not only in Europe, New Year parties also take place in many places in America. Ignoring the regulations on social stretching, hundreds of Americans still secretly gather to drink and sing on New Year’s Eve. In the context of the uncontrolled Covid-19 epidemic, millions of Americans were unable to go to famous places such as Times Square to count down the New Year’s Eve together. However, instead of complying with the regulations of social separation, there are still many people who secretly gather and disregard warnings. Hundreds of people gather to drink in a New York building on January 1. Some other cities like Soho, Brooklyn, police have also dispersed crowds of partying, drinking and dancing. In the cases, many people were charged with violating an order to gather in the house, operate illegal bars and other crimes.
Thus, while many countries entered the 2nd, 3rd wave…. of the Covid-19 epidemic, ignoring the regulations on prevention of epidemics by people in many countries during the New Year is likely to cause new cases to skyrocket in the coming days. This would add to the burden on the national health system, already overcrowded by the Covid-19 epidemic. The UK had to warn that, in the coming days, hospitals in this country would not have enough room for Covid-19 patients. This is not only due to the emergence of a new variant of the SARS CoV-2 virus, but also from public consciousness.