CAn expert has warned that the Christmas dinner represents “ideal conditions” for the spread of the Coronavirus.

If you want the perfect conditions for the virus to spread, it will be indoors, somewhere that isn’t. Well ventilated, somewhere that used to be crowded, Professor Stephen Reischer, a social psychologist from the University of St Andrews, told the Radio Times. Somewhere there is alcohol so we forget our inhibitions and that describes Christmas dinner perfectly. “

Professor Reischer, who sits in the Scientific Insights on Behavior Group (SPI-B), which advises the Sage Scientific Advisory Group, added: “Of course we don’t want to give gifts to this virus, we want to take care of ourselves and the best way to do that, I think. Unfortunately, it is postponed if we can.

“I realize that for some families it makes sense for us to meet, I mean, if you have an elderly relative who might not see another birthday or someone who’s struggling badly, there would be exceptions.

“But if we turn an exception into a rule and if a lot of people meet, we’re really heading towards disaster.”

He said people who come together over five days of relaxed measures over Christmas had been “too long” and that mixing of families from different regions across the country could “re-launch the epidemic.”