Scientists and health experts have confirmed that newspapers are not transmitters of COVID-19 because of the ink and the printing process they go through.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Dr Hilary Jones, said: "For public health information right now it's important people have access to information through newspapers. It's possible to deliver newspapers safely. If someone physically picks them up and delivers them to a doorstep or letterbox it's safe."

John Innes Centre virologist George Lomonossoff said: “Newspapers are pretty sterile because of the way they are printed and the process they’ve been through. Traditionally, people have eaten fish and chips out of them for that very reason. So all of the ink and the print makes them actually quite sterile. The chances of that are infinitesimal.”

A World Health Organisation spokesman said: “The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperate is also low.”

Publishers have long protected customers and staff through health and safety measures at printing plants, distribution centres, and home delivery.