Professor Hugh Montgomery, director of the Institute for Human Health and Performance at University College London, said the coronavirus which causes the illness was three times more catching than influenza – and told anyone unconcerned about catching COVID-19: “It’s not about you, it’s about everybody else.” Intensive care specialist Prof Montgomery told Channel 4’s Dispatches: “Normal flu, if I get that, I’m going to infect on average 1.3, 1.4 people. “By the time it’s happened 10 times, I’ve been responsibly for about 14 cases of flu,” Montgomery said.

This coronavirus is very, very infectious, so every person passes to it three

Professor Hugh Montgomery

Prof Montgomery arrived at the figure by calculating 1.3 to the power 10, which comes in at 13.786.

However, he added: “This coronavirus is very, very infectious, so every person passes to it three.

“Now that doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but if each of those three pass it to three and that happens in 10 layers, I have been responsible for infecting 59,000 people.”

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Prof Montgomery’s assessment contrasts with World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, which indicate the average person with COVID-19 contaminates between two and 2.5 people.

He was making his point in order to emphasise the importance of social distancing and self-isolation, both of which are tactics to slow down the spread of the bug and ease the burden on the NHS.

Britain was yesterday placed in lockdown by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, just as China, South Korea, France, Italy, Spain and numerous other countries have been.

Prof Montgomery had a message for anyone ignoring the instruction to stay in their homes, pointing out failure to do so increased the risk of passing infections on to vulnerable people, such as those over the age of 70,

He said: “If you are irresponsible enough to think that you don’t mind if you get the flu, remember it’s not about you, it’s about everybody else.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, has cautioned against comparing the virus with flu.

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“This virus is not SARS, it’s not MERS, and it’s not influenza.

“It is a unique virus with unique characteristics.

“The pandemic is accelerating.

“It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases.

“We need unity among the G20 countries who have more than 80 percent of the global GDP.

“If we don’t prioritise protecting health workers, many people will die because the health worker who could have saved their lives is sick.”

World health officials believe more than 26 million health-care workers may end up treating COVID-19 patients.

The highly communicable nature of COVID-19 was illustrated last month after a 61-year-old woman known as Patient 31 was identified as being responsible for 70 of South Korea’s 104 infections after attending a church event.

Since then, South Korea is widely regarded as having got a grip of the situation far better than many countries, with the latest WHO figures showing 8,961 cases and 111 deaths.

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