Phillip Schofield lashes out at ‘doom and gloom people’ in clash over lockdown: ‘We’ll be terrified forever’

Philip Schofield got into a heated debate with Matthew Wright on This Morning over lockdown and people who are double-jabbed not having to quarantine after traveling to amber list countries.

The new rules about travelling to countries on the amber list will come into effect on July 19.

Boris Johnson is also expected to lift Covid-19 restrictions, including social distancing and mandatory mask-wearing, on July 19.

However, with cases currently rising, not everyone is convinced it’s a good idea.

Chatting to Matthew, host Phillip asked how long we’re expected to be locked down, before referring to ‘all the doom and gloom people’.

Matthew said: ‘Unvaccinated people become breeding ground of variants, those variants could one day overcome our vaccine regime and we’ll be back to square one.’

‘Every death is terrible, without question,’ Phillip, 59, said. ‘But the numbers are so tiny. More people are dying from flu now.’

‘Yes but you’ve still got disruptions in businesses, in schools. When people go back-‘ Matthew, 56, began.

Phil said people don’t want to be locked down forever (Picture: ITV)

‘You’ve got more disruption if you shut them down!’ Phillip said, with Matthew arguing that organised disruption is better than chaotic disruption.

With Phillip going on to say that there is a much lower risk now that so many people have been vaccinated, Matthew pointed out that new variants could emerge.

‘You’ll be terrified forever then!’ Phillip said.

‘I’m not terrified,’ Matthew hit back. ‘It’s more about accepting.’

Matthew suggested that more variants could emerge (Picture: ITV)

‘You accept the variant and you move on with your life, otherwise you end up going crazy because you’re constantly locked in by these doom and gloom people,’ Phillip responded.

The number of people dying with flu and pneumonia on their death certificate in England and Wales was 10 times higher than those with Covid at the end of June, according to figures from the ONS.

Scientists have suggested there will be more variants and that the virus will continue to mutate.

Dr Hilary Jones previously said on Good Morning Britain that he thinks that ‘Freedom Day’ should be postponed due to the rising cases.

He explained: ‘I do hope that on the [12th] July they actually look at the figures again and say, “Actually, we better postpone it.”‘

Clarifying what he meant, Dr Hilary pointed out that the Government will assess the data on July 12 to determine whether the lifting of restrictions should go ahead.

More: This Morning

Dr Hilary recalled a comment made by NHS Grampian chief executive Professor Caroline Hiscox, who urged people to ‘follow facts, which stands for face mask, avoid crowded spaces, clean your hands regularly, stay two metres from others, self isolate if you develop symptoms and book a test.’

‘How sensible is that?’ he asked, with presenter Susanna Reid replying: ‘We’re getting rid of half of that.’

‘I know, and that doesn’t make sense to me,’ Dr Hilary added.

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.

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