Amanda under fire! ‘Stupid’ & ‘Irresponsible’
She makes us laugh on Heart Radio, but BGT judge Amanda Holden sparked anger with recent comments about the Coronavirus hitting the UK...
The darling of TV and radio, stunning Amanda Holden rarely puts a step wrong. But she truly seemed to put her petite foot in it when she tweeted recently about COVID-19.
The potentially deadly Coronavirus, which began in China, has now spread to at least 73 countries across the world, including the UK, and infected more than 91,000 people according to the World Health Organisation.
Boris Johnson insisted last week that it is ‘ highly likely’ the UK will see a growing number of cases, but added that it will be a ‘mild disease’ for the ‘overwhelming majority’ of patients.
Clearly agreeing with him, Amanda probably thought that taking to social media to comment on the virus (which seems to be causing widespread panic) was doing her responsible bit to calm everybody down.
She wrote to her 1.9million followers: ‘The current mortality rate for the Coronavirus is two per cent, which is roughly equivalent to the common flu virus. The 24hr incessant mainstream media has a lot to answer for creating such hysteria. Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your nose eyes and ears.’
To be fair, some were swift to agree with the 49-year-old mum-of-two.
‘Yes! The melodrama over it is driving me crazy,’ seemed to be echoed again and again in the comments.
But just as many were horrified. ‘ What a stupid comment… there is no decent research or cure but I’m sure your two-second click on Google is true.’
‘ You are not a scientist or doctor, equating this to the common flu is beyond irresponsible,’ blasted another. ‘Pretty irresponsible tweet. I’m a medic on the front line.’
No doubt, Amanda’s words came from a good place, but emotions are running high as the dangerous virus continues to spread – WHO has now said it has a 3.4 per cent mortality rate, with more than 3,000 deaths to date.
Perhaps this is a topic where we all – celebrities included – need to be very careful about dishing out advice...
‘The mainstream media has a lot to answer for, creating such hysteria’