It comes as vital cancer screening has been put on hold across the country – with Cancer Research UK estimating that 2,300 cancers are now being missed a week.

Prof Sikora, chief medical officer at Rutherford Health and former head of the World Health Organisation’s cancer programme, wrote on the Daily Mail: “If this continues for six months, I suspect that in the years to come there will be at least 50,000 excess cancer deaths. That is a terrifying number.