Dr Mehmet Oz has been criticised for saying panic around coronavirus will be worse than the actual virus itself.

The prominent TV doctor was speaking on Fox and Friends on Thursday morning when he made the claims.

“I think a lot of doctors now are feeling that the worry and the panic about coronavirus is going to be worse than the actual coronavirus for them,” he said.

Dr Oz went on to claim that the medical community are now saying that Covid-19 is not as serious as first thought.

“And if we can sort of balance that out — for the first few months we were all saying, guys wake this up is a problem. Now the medical community is saying, let’s step it back for a second. You’re going to be fine,” added Dr Oz.

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His comments were criticised online, with Twitter users claiming that Dr Oz was downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic.

User @revrrlewis shared the video of Mr Oz and tweeted: “Again, I am not a doctor, and I agree that panic attacks are bad, but *I* think that most doctors might consider all the dying — sometimes including the doctors themselves — to be the worst part about coronavirus.”

Others shared his opinion and user @politicalanim13 tweeted, “that’s ridiculous. Panic attacks are not worse than DEATH. A whole senior facility in Woodbridge had to be relocated today. This s**t is real,” while @aliciabeck20 simply posted that “Dr Oz has become a fool”.

Dr Oz added that most Americans would be safe from the disease and that worrying about potential harm is counterproductive.

“It’s a pretty safe virus for the majority of Americans.The panic you’re experiencing is only going to pull you away from the calmness you need to succeed,” he said.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, upwards of 69,684 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 1046.