There is ‘no evidence’ sunbathers risk spreading coronavirus infection and ministers should ‘call off the dogs’, says government adviser

• Police were deployed to move on sunbathers out and about over Easter Weekend
• Government adviser says there is no evidence sunbathers pose transmission risk
• Sociologist Robert Dingwall criticised government’s ‘all or nothing’ lockdown 
• Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID

There is no evidence sunbathers risk spreading coronavirus infection and ministers should ‘call off the dogs’, a government adviser said today.  

Prof Robert Dingwall, a sociologist, said there was no problem with enjoying spring weather as long as people obey ‘social distancing’.

He also criticised the ‘all or nothing’ strategy being pushed by the government, suggesting it has overplayed the dangers of transmission outdoors. 

The comments come with ministers wrangling over how and when to lift the lockdown. 

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has moved to quash the idea of an imminent loosening, with the UK now facing restrictions until at least May 7.

Police were deployed over the Easter weekend to move on sunseekers taking advantage of the good weather in parks and on beaches (pictured, Trafalgar Square on Good Friday)

Chief medical officer Chris Whitty (pictured in Downing Street this morning) is chairing a meeting of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Epidemics (SAGE) later

But there is growing alarm about the potential death toll from putting UK plc on hold, with life expectancy set to take a major hit. Doctors have also warned that suspending all non-urgent NHS operations to focus on coronavirus cases means more cancer and heart disease patients will die.

The Cabinet is divided between ‘hawks’ and ‘doves’ over whether to push to ease the lockdown soon, with some saying the public is obeying social distancing too well and must be urged to keep working where possible.

But concerns have been raised that it is impossible to lift the curbs at the moment anyway because the public is so strongly in favour of them staying in place, and would simply refuse to go back to normal. 

The government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Epidemics (SAGE) is meeting later to consider the latest evidence and try to thrash out a consensus, although it will not make a recommendation until later in the week. 

Police were deployed over the Easter weekend to move on sunseekers taking advantage of the good weather in parks and on beaches.  

But Prof Dingwall – who sits on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), which feeds into SAGE – told the Telegraph: ‘If it was entirely down to me, I would be calling the dogs off. 

‘I don’t think it is appropriate to harass sunbathers. It is an indictment of the political and scientific elite that they are not recognising that people living in flats and social housing do not have an alternative to going to parks.’

Peter Openshaw said last week he thought it was ‘fair enough thing’ for people to catch some rays, as they damage the genetic material of the deadly pathogen.

He said he had seen no evidence at Nervtag that there is a major threat of coronavirus transmissions outdoors. 

‘The probability, for example, of transmission from a jogger running past you is zero,’ he said. 

Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, voiced similar views last week, saying it is a ‘fair enough thing’ for people to catch some rays.

Speaking on the BBC’s Question Time, he 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.’

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