A coronavirus expert has slammed the "I'm all right Jack" attitude of some millenials who are breaking lockdown rules to meet up and drink beers in parks.
Professor Calum Semple, of Liverpool University, is leading the largest and most detailed investigation of Covid-19 cases in Europe, with hundreds of patients still dying every day in Britain.
Speaking to journalists during an online briefing unveiling the findings yesterday, Prof Semple delivered a stinging criticism of the “millennial man”.
He said: “Still we see isolated egregious examples of selfishness where people think it’s okay to meet in the park and share a four-pack of beer. I’ve seen it happen.
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“There is a particular group of younger people taking an ‘I’m all right Jack, this doesn’t bother me, why should I be worried’ attitude.
“They don’t understand that they are just as likely to catch it and transmit it, and that will affect the rest of society.
“People need to hear this and get it into their heads."
The professor said the reason the Government is urging people to stay at home until the outbreak "quietens down" is due to the immense dangers the disease poses.
This includes to health care workers "who are likely to catch it in hospital”, he added.
The research was carried out by the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and has tracked a third of all UK hospital patients.
Prof Semple also said it is still a "common misconception" that Covid-19 is a "bad dose of the flu".
“Once you are sick enough to go to hospital Covid is as dangerous as Ebola. People don’t get this.”
The total number of people who have died from Covid-19 in hospitals across Britain now stands at 26,097, with an overall death toll, including care home fatalities for the first time.
Public Health England yesterday reported an additional 3,811 deaths in England since the start of the outbreak.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who was standing in as PM for Boris Johnson until this week, said those deaths were spread over a period from March 1 to April 28 - "so they don’t represent a sudden surge in the number of deaths.”
Additionally, the number of people who have died in hospitals from coronavirus across the UK has risen by 601, Wednesday's figures showed.
