Stephen Fry has appealed to his millions of social media followers to be friendly and kind as the coronavirus crisis escalates.

In a tweet to his 12.8m Twitter followers, the Norfolk-based broadcaster said: 'OK. Until this thing is over we've all got to be helpful, friendly and kind to each other, understood? Hatchets buried. Grievances forgotten. Disputes resolved. Feuds ended. Strangers smiled at. When the final whistle is blown we can go back to being mean and beastly. Agreed?'

Mr Fry later added a lie-in could help keep our immune systems in trim to battle the virus.

'My friend the excellent @DrShlain says this: 'Turn off your alarm clock. Wake up naturally. It's quite amazing that humans are the only living species that interrupts a critical biological process that helps our immune system.'