Young people have been issued further warnings to avoid pubs and unneccessary social contact to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the UK's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance yesterday reiterated calls for younger people, especially in London, to heed government warnings.
And they said the coronavirus wreaking havoc round the globe and responsible now for more than 10,000 deaths worldwide can be severe for under-30s.
Officials are reportedly fearful that complacency among younger generations could curb government efforts to contain the virus through social distancing measures.
Brits have been told to work from home where possible, avoid any unnecessary travel and stop going to pubs and restaurants.
It is reported that the government is still considering enforcing tougher restrictions in London to keep people inside, including bar closures, although a total lockdown is not thought to be imminent.
The capital is home 1,221 of the UK's 3,269 confirmed cases, with the Prime Minister conceding that London is a "few weeks ahead" of the rest of the country.
Prof Whitty said: "There are some young people who have ended up in intensive care, or who have ended up with severe disease around the world.
"But I think it’s important that we don’t give the impression that every single young person is just going to breeze through this.
"The great majority will have a mild or moderate disease and will get through this.
"But there will be some young people who will have severe disease, even though they are otherwise young and healthy - and we have seen cases around the world.
"We need to be aware that this is not a trivial infection for everybody, even if they are a young adult."
Sir Patrick said: "Unless everybody looks at the measures introduced by the government on social distancing it doesn't have the effect.
"So what we absolutely shouldn't encourage is the idea that young people can somehow ignore it because they’re going to be fine.
"The mixing in pubs and restaurants that we’ve said are really a part of allowing the disease to spread needs to stop.
"And it needs to stop amongst young people as well as older people."
Today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to unveil a package of emergency cash relief for workers to replace wages lost to virus closures.
And the government has published the full list of key workers whose children should still be able to attend school next week to free them up to fight coronavirus.
