LONDON, Oct.17 (Xinhua) -- The mayor of Liverpool, the first British city to go into a top-tier COVID-19 lockdown, revealed Saturday that his eldest brother had become the latest victim there to die of the pandemic.

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson said in a twitter post that his brother succumbed to the disease in the Royal Liverpool Hospital late Friday night despite the best efforts of staff.

He posted grim videos showing how doctors and nurses at the hospital were being overwhelmed at the increasing numbers of seriously ill coronavirus patients.

On Friday evening, the mayor urged people to follow the rules to prevent the spread of the virus as he revealed his eldest brother was in a "very serious condition" in hospital in the city.

Earlier this week, the 1.5 million people of the Liverpool City Region became the first in the country to be placed in the government's top Tier Three lockdown, closing hundreds of pubs, gyms and betting shops, and restricting the movement of people.

At that time, Anderson described as shameful scenes in the city center where revellers danced in the streets after the lockdown came into force.

Video shots of a party atmosphere circulated around the world, with Anderson saying the pictures had brought shame on Liverpool.

In a series of videos posted on the City Council's own website, Tristan Cope, medical director of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust, said, "We're still really stretched, at the moment we're just about coping but if admissions continue at their current rate then we'll have to take further action and that might include stopping cancer and urgent surgery as well."

The neighbouring county of Lancashire on Saturday joined Liverpool as a Tier Three area as cases of the virus continue there to increase.

The British government's three-level COVID-19 alert system came into force in England on Wednesday. Tier Three is the "very high" alert level, which means pub closures and bans on household mixing indoors, in private gardens and most outdoor venues.

To bring life back to normal, countries, such as Britain, China, Russia and the United States, are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday the British government is taking "every possible step" to find a coronavirus vaccine. Enditem

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