The high infection rates from the COVID Omicron variant have had a dampening effect on the U.K. shopping scene around Christmas weekend, a report from Financial Times said.
The report said footfall was down 45% as compared with Boxing Day 2019, per data from Springboard.
In Central London, the data showed one in 20 people had been infected with Omicron.
That led to a 67% decrease in shopping numbers from the 2019 levels.
That included Oxford Street, the main shopping area, which saw queues to get into Selfridges. Other stores like Marks and Spencer, John Lewis and Next weren’t open at all.
Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said the lower volume of shopping came from consumers’ nervousness about the virus – along with some retailers’ decisions not to open.
Northern Ireland saw shoppers’ numbers down 73% compared with 2019. In Wales, social distancing measures have seen a 53% lowering of the numbers, while Scotland saw footfalls down by 50%.
The report says England has seen a 43% decrease in footfall. In that country, prime minister Boris Johnson hasn’t yet implemented new restrictions on going out.
Johnson is reportedly ready to look into the data on Omicron on Monday (Dec. 27), and will then decide whether there need to be more restrictions in the country. The report says Johnson has promised to recall Parliament before introducing new COVID rules – but there’s not much time before the new year now.
PYMNTS writes that Omicron’s quick spread has also had dire effects for restaurants – though the industry’s resilience might be better than it had been in March 2020.
See also: Restaurants Leverage Learnings From Previous Outbreaks to Take on Omicron
Cases have been higher than they have been in months – there were 51 million cases in the last 30 days as of Dec. 20.
But even so, restaurants have been prepared, leaning into more digital orders and quick service.
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