Revellers hit bars and clubs around the country for festive fun on “Mad Friday” despite the rapid surge in Covid cases.
The government has advised people to be cautious over the Christmas period but Boris Johnson has decided against imposing tougher restrictions, or a Plan C, despite the threat posed by the Omicron variant.
And on Friday people appeared to shrug off Covid fears as they headed out to enjoy themselves with snaps showing party-goers in high spirits.
This week adults needed to show a vaccine passport with two doses or a negative Covid test to get into some venues including nightclubs but it did not stop people dressing up and heading out.
With just a week to go before Christmas many people went to parties in festive gear while others had drinks with friends.
While there may not have been as many people as normal, there were still a lot out and about.
Some areas including Manchester city centre did though have a noticeable drop in the usual numbers and in popular areas like the Northern Quarter there were plenty of spaces free.
And the usually bustling Stevenson Square, the home of impromptu parties during Euro 2020 in the summer, cut an eerie scene.
It comes with advice being for people to “prioritise” certain events and “de-prioritise” others.
The Chief Medical Officer for England, Christ Whitty, pointed out many people are going to be infected with Omicron if they socialise, so there was a choice about how much to do.
“Don’t mix with people you don’t have to for either work or for the sort of family things that really matter to you, would be my general advice,” he said. “But people have to make their own choices”.
He added: “I think what most people are doing, and I would think this seems very sensible, is prioritising the social interactions that really matter to them.
“And, to protect those ones, de-prioritising ones that matter much less to them.
"I think that's going to become increasingly important as we, for example, go into the Christmas period."
The UK reported a record breaking 93,045 Covid cases on Friday, a 60% increase on last week.
Department of Health figures show another 111 people have lost their lives to the virus.
This week has seen a sharp uptick in cases, with Friday being the third day in a row where the grim figure has been beaten - with 88,376 cases being confirmed on Thursday and an additional 78,610 on Wednesday.
The UK has recorded 3,201 new cases of the Omicron variant, up from Thursday's figure of 1,691.
It takes the total number of confirmed Omicron cases in the UK to 14,909 - although the true figure is believed to be much higher because not all labs can detect the variant and not everyone will come forward for testing.
