Boris Johnson has told overweight people to get in shape this summer.
The Prime Minister, while saying he is reluctant to “take care” of the public, said that people need to lose weight to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
The British Heart Foundation has said that obesity increases the risk of dying from the virus.
Around 27% of adults in the UK are obese, 35% overweight.
The prime minister himself reportedly identified his own weight as a key factor behind his brush with death with the virus earlier this year.
He said Friday that he is “on the way” having lost “a stone and a little” since he recovered from his ordeal.
Johnson, while visiting a medical center in Beckton, east London, was asked if summer should be about weight loss, with people exercising and cutting out junk food, to guard against a new COVID-19 outbreak in the winter.
He said “I’m afraid I should. I don’t normally believe in babysitters or bosses [sic] kind of politics, but the reality is that obesity is one of the real co-morbidity factors.
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Losing weight is frankly one of the ways you can reduce your own risks with COVID.
“Actually, it is one of the ways you can generally improve your health and protect the NHS. Yes, it would certainly encourage people. “
It comes amid reports that junk food ads could be banned before watershed and snack promotions were reduced to 9pm.
Unhealthy foods could also be banned from online advertising, the Financial Times reported.
The ministers and officials are still finalizing the plans, according to the newspaper.
The president of the National Obesity Forum believes that the Prime Minister’s time in the hospital with COVID-19 has focused his attention on people’s weight.
Tam Fry told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “I think his experience at St Thomas Hospital was a real game changer, and I think this was the reason why he was suddenly so involved in curing obesity.
“Because he knows very well that his weight was a big problem when they came to treat him.”
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