Thousands of maskless fans celebrate Alabama win as 3,000 people now dying of Covid daily

Tuscaloosa mayor and university had urged supporters not to gather publicly

Thousands of maskless fans celebrated Alabama winning the college football national championship as Covid deaths in the US rose to more than 3,000 per day.

Huge crowds ignored social distancing as they spilled out onto the street in the university’s hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, after their team defeated Ohio State.

The fans ignored calls from the University of Alabama to not publicly celebrate the game, which they won in Miami 52-24.

Many supporters  could be seen without masks as they chanted songs to celebrate the win.

Public health guidelines in Alabama mandate people wear a mask when within 6ft of another person.

As of Monday the state had seen more than 404,000 cases of coronavirus and 5,347 deaths.

Before the game Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox called for limited celebrations if the Crimson Tide won its sixth championship in the last 12 years.

“We can’t have block parties this year. There will be a time and place to celebrate but this is not the time,” he said on Twitter.

Health officials say that the US has averaged more than 3,000 Covid deaths a day for the last week and Monday was the seventh day in a row with more than 200,000 new infections.

The US has now seen more than 22.7 million Covid cases and around 376,000 people have been killed during the pandemic.