UNDER-30s could be allowed out of the lockdown before anyone else in the country, one of the Government’s top advisers has said.

Speaking yesterday morning Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London said that measures “targeted probably by age, by geography” would form part of the UK’s social distancing exit strategy.

The academic, who is a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), was speaking after the publication of a paper by Warwick Business School, which suggested “releasing” workers aged between 20 and 30 from the lockdown.

Researchers believe that approximately 4.2 million people in the UK fall into that category, 2.6m of whom work in the private sector.

Allowing them out of the house could help limit the damage being done to the economy by the crisis, and provide a £13 billion-a-year economic boost, the academics said.

However, they did warn that if the estimated fatality rate for those aged 20 to 29-years-old is at 0.03%, as earlier research has suggested, their policy could lead to 630 premature deaths.

They argued that unless a vaccine is discovered quickly, “it is unlikely that there will be any riskless or painless course of action.”

Ferguson, who was not involved in the research, said there were “lots of ideas worth exploring.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We clearly don’t want these measures to continue any longer than is absolutely necessary.

“The economic cost, social cost, personal and health costs are huge. But we do want to find a set of policies which maintains suppression of transmission of this virus.

“Without doubt, measures will be targeted probably by age, by geography and we will need to introduce in my view – this is not government policy – much larger levels of testing at the community level to really isolate cases more effectively and identify transmissions.”

The scientist added: “Both in the scientific community ... and in government itself it’s the number one topic and priority every waking minute as it were.”

The leading epidemiologist went on to say that it might be “several more weeks” before the Government knew if the lockdown had worked in curbing the virus.

Ferguson said there was “preliminary evidence” that the public was obeying rules better than many in Downing Street had anticipated.

He continued: “But we have still got to see that reflected in case numbers coming down.

“Only when we can see the case numbers come down and how quickly transmissions are being reduced can we really conclude anything about what happens next and when these measures can be relaxed.

"All my experience dealing with any sort of infectious disease suggests once you start getting things under control, that is the time you absolutely need to continue with all your measures so you can bring the disease right down, essentially to crack it across the country.”

Nick Powdthavee, professor of behavioural economics at Warwick Business School and one of the paper’s authors, said the Government had difficult choices ahead.

He explained: “Unless a vaccine is suddenly discovered there are no risk-free or painless ways forward.

“If this policy were enacted, there would still be tragic cases and some pressure on the NHS, but the effects would be far smaller than if the wider population were released.”

Asked about the comments that the lockdown could be relaxed by age and geographical area, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “He [Ferguson] is a member of Sage as you know.

“I don’t have anything to share with you at this point in time.

“We will set out the details at what we consider to be the right moment.”