In September 2020, rising Covid-19 cases plunged London into another lockdown. One photographer roamed the city’s financial district amid an eerie emptiness.
There had been hope that Covid-19 would have ebbed away in the northern hemisphere by the end of summer in 2020. Instead, a new wave of the disease appeared in earnest towards the end of August. In little more than a month, it would spark new lockdowns in the UK – and again plunge once-busy city centres into an eerie emptiness.
Some blame was directed at a government programme called “Eat Out to Help Out”, which urged people to dine on subsidised meals at local pubs and restaurants. Held from 3-31 August 2020, the scheme was enormously popular as visitor numbers in the venues taking part soared by more than 50% compared to the previous August, before the pandemic.
But with the diners came Sars-CoV2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections, which had been dropping, started to rise again. Cases amongst students also began to rise as the country’s universities opened for the new academic year.
By 21 September 2020, the government’s scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, warned that there could be 50,000 new cases a day in the UK if the government didn’t act soon. Only a day later, the UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions in an attempt to ease the outbreak.
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