Tamworth Sports Bar Closes After Fans Watching England Games on TV Blamed for Jump in COVID-19 Cases

Euro 2020 began on 11 June and football fans have been flocking to pubs to watch England matches. England beat Germany on Tuesday night and will now meet Ukraine in the quarter final on Saturday.

A sports bar in a town in the English Midlands has been ordered to close in an attempt to stop a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases.

Staffordshire Council has ordered the bar in Tamworth to close for 48 hours but the management voluntarily decided to shut it on Tuesday, 29 June.

— @Tamworth Sports Bar (@sportsbartam) June 22, 2021

​Covid cases in the town started to rise after England played Scotland on 18 June and in the last two weeks Tamworth has recorded the biggest increase in cases of any council in the country.

The town now has 293 cases, up from 54 two weeks ago.

Tamworth has the 11th highest infection rate in England.

— Paul Edmondson-Jones MBE (@PEdmondsonJones) June 30, 2021

​The owners of the bar said on their Facebook page they had not taken the decision to close "lightly", but hoped to reopen on 12 July, the day after the Euro 2020 final.

Dr Richard Harling, director for Health and Care at Staffordshire County Council, told the BBC: "The outbreak in Tamworth is mainly among the 18-34 age group, who are likely to go out and drink especially when there is an England game on. With the majority of cases being the Delta variant, having lots of people mixing would give a good opportunity for the virus to spread."