Young people need to do their part to stop coronavirus from spreading, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has once again said.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the appeal in a speech to mark International Youth Day 2020.

“Although most young people are not at high risk of severe disease during this pandemic, they play an important role, and share in the collective responsibility to help us stop transmission,” Dr Tedros said in Geneva.

The US and European countries have reported an increasing proportion of infections coming from young people in recent months. This has been attributed to the easing of lockdowns, large gatherings and relaxed attitudes to social distancing.

So, to what extent are young people responsible for spreading Covid-19?

“Young people are not [fully] responsible for the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases,” Sarah Hess, technical officer for the WHO’s emergencies team, said. “However, we do know that sometimes uninformed decisions can result in risky behaviour that might increase the spread of Covid-19."