Piers Morgan reveals youngest son has shown symptoms linked to coronavirus

Piers Morgan has revealed that his youngest son Albert has had symptoms linked to the coronavirus.

He surprised co-host Susanna Reid when he disclosed the news on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday as they discussed the virus with journalists Kevin Maguire and Andrew Pierce.

“One of my sons had it in a much milder way,” he said of Albert, 19. “He lost his taste and smell and still hasn't got it back.”

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“One of your sons?” replied a shocked Reid.

“Yeah, my youngest boy had it,” Morgan continued. “He had that taste and smell thing that I think now most people are associating with the virus," he continued.

“Luckily he didn't get anything like what you had, but he did experience it for a few days. It’s a very unnerving thing to get.”

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Morgan, who is a father to four children, does not live with his son.

UK researchers have said loss of smell and taste could be the strongest symptom of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. However, the government currently advises people to self-isolate only if they show symptoms of a new, continuous cough and/or a high temperature.

Last week the World Health Organization's Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said: “We have seen quite a few reports now about people who are in their early stages of disease may lose their sense of smell, may lose the sense of taste, but this is something that we need to look in to, to really capture to see whether this is one of the signs of COVID-19.

“We have a number of countries that are conducting early investigations where they are capturing standardised information from cases and contacts where they are looking at signs and symptoms.”