Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid clashed with Dr Hilary Jones during a fiery moment on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain.
The ITV presenter were discussing how the government chief scientists have warned the number of coronavirus cases could hit 50,000 a day within a month.
Piers didn’t hold back as he demanded clarification about how they reached that number. He asked: “What are you basing that on?
“If the answer is doubling every seven days… that means the entire country, if we do nothing, will have ended by new years day.”
Dr Hilary shot back saying: “No it doesn’t.”
Piers responded: “It does”, to which Hilary said again: “It doesn’t”, and Piers again replied: “It does!”
(Image: ITV)
Dr Hilary, who was seemingly losing his temper, shot back one final time: “It doesn’t!”
Morgan said: “If you say it doubles every seven days, that’s where you get to by January 1st.”
Hilary exclaimed: “But things change in an epidemic.”
Susanna then chipped in as she argued: “If cases are going to double then there is going to be a point when everybody eventually has got the virus.”
Piers and Susanna didn’t hold back as they grilled Dr Hilary about the new government predictions (Image: ITV)
Hilary shot back: “No, it completely ignores herd immunity, as a factor, it completely ignores that people start to shield, lock themselves away.”
Piers continued to argue as he questioned: “Then how do you get the 50,000 a day by middle of October then?”
Hilary explained: “That’s based on what’s happened in the last few weeks.
“They’re presenting the science, they’re presenting the figures. They’re giving us the information and the knowledge on which to base some rational decisions.”
Dr Hilary was attempting to make the new government figures clearer for viewers (Image: ITV)
Piers finished the fiery debate by stating: “But if you want the headline to be 50,000, that’s the figure you use. That’s what they did.
“They haven’t explained actually what they’re basing it on, given that in every other country, nobody is projected to be anywhere near that by the middle of October, and that’s the problem that the people who are skeptical about this and don’t want any action, are saying, why have you reached that figure.
“That’s what Boris Johnson has got to answer today. He has to tell the British public ‘why have we arrived at 50,000’.”
Viewers flooded Twitter with comments, divided over the heated discussion.
One said: “Piers and Susanna are taking their frustrations out on Dr Hilary this morning, let him speak #gmb.”
While another wrote: “What are you arguing with Hilary for??? He hasn’t made the rules!!”
“Dr Hilary talking absolute rubbish this morning”, penned another Twitter user.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
