Young people in the UK have been warned coronavirus is "not a trivial infection" as Britons were urged to stop mixing in pubs and restaurants immediately to combat its spread.

People across the UK have been pictured continuing to go to socialise in drinking places - despite the government urging the public to avoid them.

In briefing on Thursday, the government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the activity "needs to stop" or the measures introduced to tackle COVID-19 will not be effective.

Image: People stand outside a pub in Soho, central London, on Tuesday

And in a warning to young people, England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, was not a "trivial infection" and some had been left in intensive care after contracting the virus.

"What we absolutely shouldn't encourage is the idea that young people somehow can ignore it because they're going to fine," he said.


"The mixing in pubs and restaurants and so on that we've said is part of allowing to disease to spread needs to stop.

"It needs to stop among young people as well as older people."

Prof Whitty said it was important to stress that not every young person who contracts coronavirus will "breeze through" it.

"It's certainly the case that the great majority of those who end up dying sadly are people who tend to be in the later part of their lives - usually quite elderly or with pre-existing health conditions," he said.

Image: Some young people have been left severely ill by COVID-19, said Professor Chris Whitty (right)

"But there are also some young people who have ended up in intensive care or have ended up with severe disease around the world.

"I think it's important we don't give the impression that every single young healthy person is just going to breeze through this."

He added: "This is not a trivial infection for everybody, even if they are a young adult."

The two experts were speaking at the Academy of Medical Sciences in London where Prof Whitty said it was "improbable" that a COVID-19 vaccine would be developed in six months.

He also admitted that he expects to look back at the handling of the virus crisis and think "we could have done something slightly different".

"However much we would like there to be a vaccine riding to the rescue in six months time, currently - we think that's improbable," Prof Whitty said.

He added: "Hindsight is a wonderful thing and we will look back and say we wish we had known that and we would have done something slightly different."

When asked about different strains of the virus, Prof Whitty said "with a strong caveat of scientific speculation" that it was expected to mutate.

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He said there was a chance that the virus could mutate "around the vaccine", but that some mutations could be "actually useful".

"Smaller mutations... help to track family trees of the virus," said Prof Whitty, adding that this would help scientists to understand and tackle the disease.

Sir Patrick added that the UK was "absolutely world-class" in addressing viral mutations

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a significant escalation of UK measures in response to coronavirus earlier this week, including advising everyone in the country to avoid pubs, clubs, restaurants and theatres and to only make essential journeys.