The Foreign Secretary moved to put his finger in his mouth before turning the page of his speech as he reminded people to stay at home to save lives during the coronavirus outbreak. It comes despite constant warnings from the Government and health professionals to wash one’s hands for 20 seconds repeatedly throughout the day and to avoid touching one’s face at all times. The move did not go unnoticed by viewers who took to Twitter to express their outrage. 

One person tweeted: “Why the hell has Dominic Raab just licked his finger to turn his notes over on live telly?!”

Another wrote: “#Raab actually licking his finger during the Serious Announcement. Clowns.”

Another said: “Oh dear… Dominic Raab had one job.. he just licked his finger to turn the page.”

And another: “Someone needs to tell Dominic Raab it isn’t a good idea to lick your fingers at work.”

One joked: “Somebody tell Dominic Raab that being #DesignatedSurvivor doesn’t make you immortal!”

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During his update, the Foreign Secretary said “tens of thousands” of stranded British travellers would be flown home under a new partnership between the Government and airlines.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, he said: “I can today announce a new arrangement between the Government and airlines to fly home tens of thousands of stranded British travellers, where commercial flights are no longer possible.

“Partner airlines include British Airways, Virgin, Easyjet, Jet2 and Titan and this list can be expanded.

“Under the arrangements that we are putting in place, we will target flights from a range of priority countries, starting this week.”

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“To give you an indication of the sheer volume, on average we normally receive 1,000 calls a day to that call centre.

“Last Tuesday, we had nearly 15,000, the highest on record.

“So we boosted our resources, we have redeployed people to our call centre, we’ve tripled our capacity.

“Yesterday, the call centre answered 99 percent of calls and helped thousands of British travellers get the answers they need.”