Relaxing facemask and social distancing rules as early as last July, plus the absence of health pass to access indoor public venues has finally caught up with the UK, it seems:

UK falls behind European peers in battle against Covid ahead of winter https://t.co/8e9a4ttFc5

— Financial Times (@FT) October 16, 2021

20 COVID hotspots as UK records second highest infections in the world

Regional COVID hotspots are popping up across the North and Midlands as the UK soars to having the second-highest numbers of infections in the world.

Only the USA has higher COVID infections, with a rolling seven day average of 87,886 cases compared to the UK's 37,811, according to Our World In Data.

The UK is far ahead of comparable countries like France and Germany and is an outlier when it comes to European nations.

The UK has essentially ended lockdown while many nations on the continent still have some restrictions in places like facemasks and social distancing.

Several European nations have also introduced strict vaccine passports.