随着 Omicron 变种席卷英国，将每日冠状病毒感染率推高至有记录以来的最高水平，英国企业再次关门大吉——但不是因为政府的指示。
朱莉娅霍洛维茨报道，由于大量取消预订和对员工健康的担忧，餐馆和其他场所决定他们别无选择，只能在圣诞节提前关闭。
东伦敦 Mangal 2 餐厅的共同所有人 Ferhat Dirik 表示，由于预订丢失和“空气中的普遍不确定性”，他决定比计划提前一周关闭。
“这影响了员工的士气，也影响了我们预测任何可以证明这一点的合理收入，”迪里克告诉 CNN Business。
在大流行发生近两年后，关闭是对经济的新威胁，也是政府头疼的问题。他们表明，当病例足够高时，尽管大流行疲劳普遍存在，但人们仍然愿意避免外出。
英国周四报告了 88,376 例冠状病毒病例的历史新高，因为公共卫生官员警告说，Delta 变体的病例“数量保持相对稳定”，而 Omicron“增长非常迅速”。在伦敦，它已经是占主导地位的菌株。
这一场景很快就会在世界主要城市上演。
London bars and restaurants are shutting themselves down
As the Omicron variant sweeps through the United Kingdom, pushing daily coronavirus infections to their highest level on record, British businesses are shutting their doors again — but not because of government instructions.
Restaurants and other venues are instead deciding they have no choice but to close early for Christmas due to a flood of canceled reservations and concerns about the health of staffers, Julia Horowitz reports.
Ferhat Dirik, the co-owner of east London's Mangal 2 restaurant, said he decided to shut a week earlier than planned because of lost bookings and the "general uncertainty in the air."
"It's affecting staff morale, and it's affecting us projecting any reasonable income that could justify this," Dirik told CNN Business.
The closures are a new threat to the economy and a headache for government, nearly two years into the pandemic. They indicate that when cases are high enough, people are still willing to avoid going out, despite widespread pandemic fatigue.
The United Kingdom reported an all-time high of 88,376 coronavirus cases on Thursday, as public health officials warn that cases of the Delta variant are "remaining relatively stable in number" while Omicron "is increasing very rapidly." In London, it's already the dominant strain.
It's a scene that could soon be playing out in major cities around the world.
