Piers Morgan has blasted the government for not banning mass gatherings and criticised people for continuing to attend concerts and marathons despite the coronavirus crisis plaguing Britain.
The UK death toll from the killer virus soared to 35 yesterday, with 14 deaths in just 24 hours but the government has yet to ban concerts and other huge events.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Piers told viewers that it was ‘utter nonsense’ and slammed people for crowding into arenas and outdoor spaces.
‘People are not socially distancing because they’ve been told not to,’ he said.
‘In Ireland they’ve had to shut every pub in the country because so many people were out boozing because nothing was happening.
‘Most people are running around at the moment totally oblivious to the threat of this.
‘What the hell are you doing going to pop concerts taking part in half marathons the rest of the world is in virtual lockdown and were doing this it is nonsense utter nonsense.’
It came after thousands were pictured crammed into Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena to watch Stereophonics and took part in the Bath Half-Marathon.
Yesterday, thousands of music fans descended upon Cardiff’s 5,000-capacity Motorpoint Arena to listen to the Stereophonics on their Kind 2020 Tour
Taking to Twitter, the Welsh rock band, who hail from the former coal mining village of Cwmaman, posted a video of their fans attending their show with the caption: ‘Cardiff in beautiful voice tonight! #stereophonics #Kind2020Tour.’
However, they came under fire on social media for going ahead with the event despite the coronavirus panic engulfing the country.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Piers Morgan told viewers that it was ‘utter nonsense’ public gatherings hadn’t been banned
Thousands of music revellers took to Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena to listen to the Stereophonics on their Kind 2020 Tour today
Some social media users slammed the move and questioned why the concert was able to go ahead amid the coronavirus outbreak
One user wrote: ‘This is so selfish, the people in the audience here are unlikely to be in high risk groups (they’re younger), but they could spread it to older friends, relatives and co-workers.’
While another commented: ‘OMG. How incredible irresponsible! It takes one corona-infected person to be there and the spread will be tremendous. Please help people social distancing and stop touring.’
Thirty-four new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Wales yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country to 94.
Liverpool’s half marathon and ten mile race saw around 6,000 participants turn out to run the course today despite 14 coronavirus cases confirmed in the Merseyside region
Liverpool Half Marathon & 10 Mile runners in action on Sunday as the marathon goes ahead despite the number of coronavirus cases growing around the world
A runner falls to the floor after the race as the marathon goes ahead despite 14 cases of coronavirus in the Merseyside area
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s half marathon and ten mile race still went ahead and saw around 6,000 participants turn out.
In Leeds the famous annual Otley run pub crawl, popular with Leeds University students, went ahead with participants visiting up to sixteen bars on the route – despite the University cancelling all physical lectures from Monday amid the coronavirus.
In the south of the country, Bath Half, the city’s half marathon also went ahead with around 12,000 participants running the course despite warnings from Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse who said the event was ‘simply not worth the risk’.
The MP wrote in a statement: ‘I am appealing to the organisers to cancel the event. The government itself made a U-turn on its policy last night but is only calling for mass events to be cancelled from next weekend.
‘This leaves a very worrying window of one week, precisely when infection is rising’.
In the south of the country, Bath Half, the city’s half marathon also went ahead on Sunday with around 12,000 participants
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse called for the event to be cancelled as it was ‘simply not worth the risk’
Today, millions of workers across the country started to work from home in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, leaving empty carriages on trains and spacious roads up and down the UK.
Some train service are facing a complete axe as the transport secretary today claimed that a decline in passengers would lead to services being cut.
Many workers based in London this morning snubbed public transport and a District Line tube had just a handful of passengers on what would usually be a packed train.