70 face penalty in London after attending boat party amid lockdown

More than 70 people will be punished with a fine for breaching coronavirus restrictions by attending a boat party in western London, reported Xinhua, quoting local media on Sunday.

Police were called shortly after 2300 GMT on Saturday after reports of a large gathering on a moored boat in Ealing, a district in western London, Sky News reported.

A total of 72 people will face fixed penalty notices of 800 pounds for breaching coronavirus restrictions by attending an indoor gathering of more than 15 people.

The organizer has been identified and will face a fine of 10,000 pounds.

"This was a blatant breach of the coronavirus rules that are in place to save lives and protect the huge pressure on the NHS (National Health Service)," Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Bowen said in a statement.

"All the people who attended this event, which appears to have been organized on social media, have quite rightly been reported for the consideration of fines," he said.

"The Met (police) will continue to shut down and disperse events such as this, which risk spreading a virus that has already claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people in this country."

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.