Coronavirus is ‘more dangerous’ than the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic

Dr Hilary Jones warned on Good Morning Britain on Thursday that coronavirus is now “far more dangerous” than the 1918 Spanish flu which killed 50m people worldwide.

Dr Hilary said that the Spanish flu exposed a third of the world and more than 50m people were killed by the virus globally.

In a grim warning, Dr Hilary added, “Only half a percent of the globe right now has been exposed to Covid which is far more dangerous in many ways than that Spanish flu was.

“We need to take it much more seriously than we have. We all want our lives to carry on as if nothing’s happened.”

Dr Hilary welcomes the governments’ reported plans to close all bars, pubs and restaurants across parts of North England.

He said, “Throughout history, pubs, licensed premises have been the epicentre of social gatherings.

“It’s where strangers meet, where acquaintances get together, it’s where alcohol disinhibits people, it’s where virus spreads.

“It’s just intuitive that when you get a lot of people flocking together and having fun that the viral transmission will increase.”

Dr Hilary added, “Now I understand the curfew will cause controversy because then people will leave together, they go out onto the streets, they gather in large groups, they get on public transport.

“But it just goes to show how many people do go out to pubs and restaurants and I would love to be one of them, I would love to be doing it right now as I’ve always done. But we’re in the middle of a pandemic.”

This comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly set to announce new restrictions within the hospitality sector which could see pubs and restaurants ordered to close.

It is expected that large swathes of North England where infections are surging will see measures tighten by the weekend.

According to the Financial Times, the areas will include Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Nottingham.

Another claim by The Sun newspaper, reports that restrictions within the hospitality sector could come into effect from Monday.

Johnson is expected to reveal a simplistic three tier local lockdown, known as the “Rule of 3” next week.