The UK has so far recorded 44,819 deaths due to COVID-19 — the third highest toll globally, after the US and Brazil — and yet people go out in the public without face masks. According to a CNN report, dozens of people have been spotted in crowded trains and store without masks.

A report by the Royal Society's SET-C and the British Academy stated that only around 25 per cent Britishers wore mask in late April, whereas in Italy 83.4 per cent of the country's citizens used face coverings. The reason fewer Britishers are using masks when in public are socio-behavioural factors and government policies, stated the report.