A TEENAGER who accused England’s chief medical officer of “lying” about Covid-19 in the street has had his PlayStation confiscated by his mother as punishment, it has been reported

Footage of a verbal attack on Professor Whitty was branded “unacceptable” and “pathetic” after appearing on social media.

As Whitty was buying lunch at a Mexican food stall in a street in central London, the 15-year-old boy, who has not been named, is heard saying to Whitty: “You’re a liar. You lie about the Covid-19 cases … stop lying to the TV, man.”

The boy's mother told the boy to record another video apologising to Whitty, according to an interview in the MailOnline. It quotes her as saying: “I was horrified when I saw how rude my son was to Mr Whitty. That is not how I have brought him up and not the behaviour that I expect from him.”

And she explained how she’d punished the boy, saying: “I have taken away his PlayStation, which is the thing he loves the most. I have not grounded him because he is already suffering enough from the lockdown and does not go out as much as he used to.”

Asked about the incident at the Downing Street press conference on Wednesday, Professor Whitty said: “In terms of being harangued … the odd young lad showing off occasionally happens.

“I didn’t think anything of it frankly, I was very surprised it was picked up by the media at all, as anything of any importance.

“I’m sure he’ll become a model citizen in due course and hopefully more like Captain Tom, who was the kind of person who I think much more exemplifies the spirit of the UK.”

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Captain Tom, who died aged 100 on Tuesday morning, raised more than £32 million for the NHS during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Professor Whitty added: “He was himself clearly absolutely remarkable, but what he was also doing was showing how it is that everybody has responded to this [the pandemic], and this has been a nationwide everybody responding.

“If it wasn’t for that – we would not see those numbers coming down.”

He added: “That is because everybody has worked together.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Downing Street branded the verbal attack on Prof Whitty as “unacceptable”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “Chris Whitty is an outstanding public servant who has worked incredibly hard and tirelessly to help steer us through what has been a very, very challenging time over the past year.

“And it is clearly unacceptable that somebody who has done so much is being subject to this sort of behaviour.”

The catcaller who confronted Professor Whitty in the street was also labelled “pathetic” by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Hancock said: “I think the individual concerned is pathetic, I think it is ridiculous what he is doing.

“Chris Whitty is one of our greatest living scientists and his advice to the Government all the way through this, and his advice to all of us in the population, has been incredibly smart and thoughtful, and he is a great asset to this nation.

“The idea that someone would do something as silly as that is ridiculous.”

He added: “Chris Whitty is a scientist of great repute and, frankly, he should be respected by everybody.”