GMB's Dr Hilary says UK saw more COVID-19 deaths as unruly public questions government

Good Morning Britain 's Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid got into a row with Dr Hilary Jones over chief medical officer Sir Patrick Valance's worrying prediction on Monday.

His speech said that the UK faces 50,000 cases of COVID-19 a day by mid-October, which Piers and Susanna believe is scaremongering.

Hilary said it was a worst case scenario and did not take into account herd immunity or the fact vulnerable people would shield themselves.

Piers asked: "Why do they believe we will be moving as a country much faster, than anyone else? And if you bring in countries like Sweden or Germany or other European countries, they are way lower than Spain or France.

Hilary said people in the UK and US do not listen to rules and this is their downfall (ITV)

"They may not say it's a prediction but they deliberately put that number out there to terrify everybody, they need to get their heads round how they got to that figure."

Hilary replied: "It is based on what has been happening here in the last few weeks."

Piers asked: "Why would we get it worse here than anywhere else?"

"Well, it could be that we are not adhering to the guidelines that are suggested," replied Hilary.

Piers and Susanna rowed with Dr Hilary over the medical officer's dark prediction (ITV)

"We just heard from Dr Margaret Harris saying if we abide by what we are supposed to do, the social distancing, the keeping two metres away, the hand washing and not mixing together in large groups of people from different households, we won't need to place greater restrictions.

"But it could well be that in other countries they are actually abiding by those guidelines more stringently than we are here."

Piers said: "I am getting a sense out there people are sick and tired of this, feeling restricted, and they are looking at the government who they don't trust, they are thinking they failed the first time around, and the test and trace system isn't working properly."

Hilary said: "Every country in the world has placed rules and restrictions, and in some countries it's been forced, you know the countries I am talking about.

"In other countries, people have been much more compliant, they are used to listening to what the government and authorities say.

"In America and here, our culture is to question everything and don't trust anybody, and that is becoming a downfall, we have become so distrustful."

* Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am