Piers Morgan’s Covid battle used by Dr Hilary Jones as stark warning for Good Morning Britain viewers

Piers Morgan may have made his dramatic exit from Good Morning Britain in March this year, but that didn’t stop Dr Hilary Jones from making an example of him on the show.

The former GMB star and Andrew Marr both recently revealed that they contracted Covid-19 after having both of their vaccine doses.

Dr Hilary used Piers’ case to encourage people to still be cautious as he spoke about the upcoming rule change, which will mean people travelling to the UK from the EU and US won’t have to self-isolate if they are double-vaccinated.

While they are currently told to undertake a test before they depart and on the second day after they arrived, Dr Hilary suggested this is not a legal requirement.

‘I think it’s not cautious enough,’ the 68-year-old said. ‘I think it’s asking for more transmission – it’s going to cause more transmission. Because, as we know, people who are double vaccinated still get Covid – Piers Morgan, Andrew Marr to name but two.

‘It happens and if we have a swarm of people coming in from overseas and they don’t have to self-isolate, some of them will be transmitting the virus inevitably.’

The rule change will take effect from Monday.

Currently, travellers are told to either take a lateral flow test or a PCR test before their departure and a PCR test on the second day after they arrive, UK transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed.

People who have had both Covid vaccines are less likely to contract the virus.

Piers recently opened up about his Covid-19 battle (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

While they may still contract it, people who have had the vaccine are also less likely to transmit it, and are less likely to have serious symptoms, to be hospitalised, and to die from the virus.

Piers recently revealed that he contracted Covid-19, explaining he believes he caught it at Wembley when he saw the England squad play in the Euro 2020 final.

The 56-year-old, who’s had two Covid vaccines, encouraged others to get jabbed, pointing out that he may have had it much worse if he hadn’t had them.

Two days after the match, Piers began to feel unwell and took a lateral flow test, which came back positive.

Andrew pointed out that his case could have been more serious if had he not received his vaccine doses (Picture: Getty Images)

He then took a PCR test, which also returned a positive result, and during his illness, he experienced fever, cold sweats, coughing, sneezing, ’strange aches’ and ‘alarming’ chest pains.

Piers’s symptoms have now faded, and he says he owes ‘a heartfelt debt of thanks’ to the creators of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Oxford.

The presenter said: ‘This is definitely the roughest I’ve felt from any illness in my adult life, BUT, as I slowly come out the other side, coughing and spluttering.

‘I’m still here – unlike so many millions around the world who’ve lost their lives to Covid in this pandemic.’

People who have been vaccinated are less likely to contract and transmit the virus (Picture: Getty Images)

Andrew, 61, said he believes he caught Covid-19 while attending the G7 summit in Cornwall.

Speaking to Professor Sir Peter Horby at the time, Andrew said: ‘I hope it’s not self-indulgent to ask you about me, because I got coronavirus last week.

‘I’d been double-jabbed earlier in the spring and felt, if not king of the world, at least almost entirely immune. And yet I got it. Was I just unlucky?’

Sir Peter, who is chairman of the virus advisory group Nervtag, said: ‘I think you were.

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‘What we know with the vaccines is that they are actually remarkably effective at preventing hospitalisations and deaths. They are less effective at preventing infection.

‘So, although you were sick, you weren’t hospitalised and there wasn’t any fatality, and that is probably because of the vaccination.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.

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