LONDON – This is not the sort of thing you really want to read on Valentine’s Day but one of Britain’s leading virologists has cautioned people against kissing or hugging for fear of passing on coronavirus (Covid-19).
Prof John Oxford, Professor of Queen Mary University, said he hoped “British standoffishness” could protect the nation from the spread of the bug.
He said coronavirus “rather hates it in England compared to China because we are so standoffish”.
The World Health Organisation has warned that a vaccine is unlikely to be produced for many months.
Prof Oxford suggested to London’s Daily Telegraph that in the meantime, Britons were best keeping themselves to themselves.
He said, “I think we have to galvanise ourselves in our social actions - how we interact with people I think that is extremely important; more so than wearing a mask. I think that's a total diversion.”