Top immunologist says people should be able to ‘sit down and take a bit of sun’ outdoors because the light ‘damages’ coronavirus as Government attempts to continue lock-down over mild Easter weekend
- Peter Openshaw said he thought it was ‘fair enough thing’ for people to get sun
- He is professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London
- The government is trying to get the public to stay at home across Easter
The public should be able to go outside in the sunshine as it helps ‘destroy’ coronavirus, a top immunologist has said.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said he thought it was ‘fair enough thing’ for people to catch some rays, as they damage the genetic material of the deadly pathogen.
He spoke on the BBC’s Question Time last night as the Government embarked on a plan to get the public to stay at home over the long Easter weekend.
Police have also warned that they are ready to take action against those who flout the coronavirus lockdown rules.
But discussing the lockdown on live television last night, Prof Openshaw said: ‘It mustn’t seem irrational or punitive.
‘It’s very important that people understand when they are following the science and they are doing things which are not going to promote infection.
But I can’t personally see what is wrong with sitting down and taking a bit of sun.
‘Sun is very bad for this virus, it damages its genetic material, so that seems a fair enough thing for me.’
Brandon Lewis said; ‘If people start coming to the beach to take their exercise but actually are relaxing and sunbathing on the beach, suddenly we will end up with the same number of people on the beach as we have in a peak Easter’
Peter Openshaw said he thought it was ‘fair enough thing’ for people to catch some rays, as they damage the genetic material of the deadly pathogen.
Councils across the UK have warned anyone planning weekend trips that they can expect to be turned away by police.
Tourist hotspots have also said holidaymakers and second homeowners are not welcome during the Easter weekend.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, in reply to Prof Openshaw on Question Time warned the public against making journeys t places like his own Great Yarmouth constituency on the Norfolk coast.
He said: ‘I get the logic of what Peter is saying.
‘The reason we are saying to people not to go and hang around and go sunbathing and relaxing in places is once one or two people start … I represent a seaside resort, if people start coming to the beach to take their exercise but actually are relaxing and sunbathing on the beach, suddenly we will end up with the same number of people on the beach as we have in a peak Easter.
‘We cannot have that.’
Members of the public exercising in the early morning warm weather on the Long Walk at Windsor Castle this morning
But Blackpool beach was deserted amid pleas from politicians and the police for the public to stay at home
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab last night said it was still too soon for ministers to begin lifting the strict social distancing rules introduced last month.
Mr Raab – who has been deputising for Boris Johnson – said they could not begin to start looking again at the measures until the end of next week.
Despite the warnings, police have already caught some making journeys in contravention of the rules.
In Cumbria, police said they caught several people heading to the Lake District from outside the area.
Officers encouraged those caught to go home, including two men from Yorkshire who ‘chose to head to Windermere for a spot of canoeing’.
At the other end of the country, John Hart, leader of Devon County Council, said police had been turning around holidaymakers travelling with caravans or motorhomes on the A38.
Further west, Cornwall Council said it had received about 200 reports from residents that holiday lets are defying the Government order to close.