Denise Welch earned the backing of many Loose Women viewers after hitting out at monkeypox 'scaremongering' live on Monday's show.
At the start of last week, it was confirmed that the first case of the infectious disease had been discovered in the North East, with the patient affected taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. Monkeypox is a viral infection usually associated with travel to West Africa, with symptoms including include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion, while a rash can also develop.
On Monday, as the UK Health Security Agency confirming the number of UK cases stands at 20, contacts of monkeypox cases at high risk of having caught the infection were advised to self-isolate for 21 days,. By the time cameras rolled on Loose Women at 12.30pm, the virus had made its way to the top of the onto the agenda for the latest episode of the ITV panel show.
Having told her many Twitter followers: "Don’t let them make this happen again guys," in relation to growing coverage on monkeypox over the weekend, Denise was forthcoming with her opinions on the matter and when quizzed by host Ruth Langsford, said; "I don't think that it will surprise many people to know what my views are of the already scaremongering. And, believe you me, I do know the difference between reporting news and scaremongering.
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"But there are certain words that are already being used which are used to generate fear. We used to talk about staying at home if you're poorly, now we talk about isolating, quarantining."
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Denise shot down accusations that she was a 'Covid denier,' as she repeatedly raised concerns over the crippling impact on people's mental health. And, referencing the torrid few years everyone had as a result of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, the former Coronation Street star added: ""We've just come out of a horrendous three years where people are trying to find some kind of mental balance after everything that was thrown at us with Covid - especially people like you Kelle (Bryan) who have an immune disease and you have to be careful more than most people.
Denise added: ""But at the moment - and again, people will go 'Oh, listen to Professor Welch!' I've never professed to be like that. Mine has always been about how this affects mental health and I can see it starting again. So yesterday, I spoke to two very highly qualified people in infectious diseases who have said that they are very angry with already the way that they can see this happening in the press..
Hitting home her point and trying to reassure people watching at home, she ended: ""In this moment there are very few cases - and it's something they should keep an eye on - there was also an outbreak in 2017 and 2018 and of course because we weren't on such high alert, we weren't so aware of it. Now we seem to be aware of absolutely everything. Personally, I'm not going to worry about it at the moment."
Denise has often been criticised by Loose Women viewers for her opinions, but was overwhelmingly met with support for her stance on monkeypox. One took to Twitter to post: "Your concerns over the MSM coverage of Monkeypox are well founded & well said on Loose Women today. There are many who have predicted this will be used as an opportunity to exploit anxieties, probably another needless vax program & freedom prevention."
Another reacted: "What @RealDeniseWelch said on Loose Women today about the scare mongering around Monkeypox was completely spot on. Too much of that from the press over the last couple of years."
And when pushed by another viewer on her sources who told her! "You can't just say "I spoke to qualified people" Denise fired back: "I can when I show the @loosewomen every conversation."
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