A leading coronavirus expert who grew up in Mid Wales has been credited for convincing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to place a lockdown in order to slow the spread of the virus in the UK.

Professor Neil Ferguson, 51, is a key advisor to the government on the coronavirus outbreak. He was the lead author of a report which warned 250,000 people could die if the Government did not introduce social distancing.

Raised in Trefeglwys, Professor Ferguson went to the village primary school and attended Llanidloes High School. Former classmates and neighbours who remember him fondly as "super clever" growing up in Montgomeryshire have praised him for his "amazing work".

Professor Ferguson's parents, who live in Trefeglwys, say they are proud of their son's achievements.

"We're very proud of him," his mother Kathy said. "We worry about him, but we're very proud of him."

In March, the father-of-one self-isolated at his London home for a week after developing coronavirus symptoms. He tweeted at the time that he was "feeling a bit grotty" but "doing OK".

The Oxford University alumnus is the director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London. He co-authored a report which suggested that hundreds of thousands of people could die in the UK, and over a million in the US, without social distancing measures. White House officials cited the study and made similar measures to the UK as a result of his research.

Last week he said the measures were working better than they had predicted. Professor Ferguson has suggested that when the time came the restrictions could be eased in stages, but said more testing would be needed to ensure the virus was kept in check.