PUBS in England could close in order to reopen schools next month, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (sage) said.

When asked about the chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty's prediction that the country was "near the limits" of opening up society, Professor Graham Medley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think that's quite possible.

"I think we're in a situation whereby most people think that opening schools is a priority for the health and wellbeing of children and that when we do that we are going to reconnect lots of households.

"And so actually, closing some of the other networks, some of the other activities may well be required to enable us to open schools.

"It might come down to a question of which do you trade off against each other and then that's a matter of prioritising, do we think pubs are more important than schools?"

Sage's Professor Graham Medley said the rise in coronavirus infections appeared to be among younger people but warned there was a danger it could "spill" over into other parts of the population.

The chairman of the Sage sub-group on pandemic modelling told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The age distribution of infections has changed, it has moved down into younger age groups and so it is likely we won't see that increase in hospital admissions related to infection in the same way we did in March.

"But the big fear is the virus just gets out of control and we end up in a situation where there is so much virus that it inevitably spills out into all sections of the population."

Prof Medley said the increased lockdown measures in areas across the north-west of England were "highly unlikely" to be the "last intervention that has to be done regionally".

"I fully expect that there will have to be other interventions at other times but what the interventions are really depends on what happens," he added.