Good Morning Britain health expert Dr Hilary Jones has warned that families may be forced to spend Christmas apart due to coronavirus social distancing rules.
The resident ITV doctor said Brits may be unable to visit their loved ones through the festive period due to the ongoing pandemic and may have to talk through video and telephone calls instead.
Dr Hilary said there was still a chance that Christmas could be “wonderful” but that it was unlikely that the country would be back to normal.
Talking to The Sun’s Dan Wootton on talkRADIO, the telly favourite said that UK’s lockdown would be lifted eventually, but measures protecting the elderly population would be among the last to go.
Dr Hilary has warned families may not be able to spend Christmas with their loved ones due to coronavirus social distance rules (Image: ITV)
Dr Hilary said: “It’s so difficult to plan ahead. This is such a new virus, we are learning about how it behaves within society in every country around the world.
“Every population and every country are seeing different things with this virus.
“Here in the UK we will undoubtedly have a lifting of restrictions in lockdown at some point and then we will have to see how things develop from there and how the NHS is coping and how many new cases we are seeing.”
He continued: “There is the prospect towards the end of the year when Christmas arises of still a necessity to protect the elderly who are most vulnerable.”
The GMB resident doctor is lending his advice to concerned viewers over the past few weeks (Image: ITV)
Dr Hilary explained that Italy has a culture of younger people caring for the elderly which resulted in more of the most vulnerable people catching the virus.
He said: “We might have to consider a Christmas that is different to Christmases that we have had before and enjoyed.”
“I think we might have to accept that visits will be limited to a small number of people or possible even remaining in terms of Skype messages, telephone messages, Christmas cards and the internet.”
The doctor’s warning comes as scientists predict that a second wave of coronavirus could come this winter.
Good Morning Britain doc slates celebs who aren’t donating to coronavirus effort (Image: ITV)
Professor Robin Shattock, from Imperial College London, said that when the UK’s lockdown is relaxed, Covid-19 could spread rampantly again.
However, the infectious diseases expert said that scientists do not know whether the virus spreads more in winter.
The professor, who has been working on a vaccine for the deadly bug, told The Times: “The real big danger is if we see the kind of number of cases of Covid-19 that we’re seeing now next winter – and we also have a seasonal flu.
“That could be a double whammy for the health service.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
