Prince Charles has warned that up to one million young people in Britain may need “urgent help” to protect their futures from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as politicians debated whether to keep British university students from returning home for Christmas.

The Prince of Wales said the social and economic crisis created

by the coronavirus is reminiscent of the upheavals of the 1970s, when youth

unemployment was one of the pressing issues facing British society.

“There has never been a time as uniquely challenging as the

present, when the pandemic has left perhaps another million young people

needing urgent help to protect their futures,” he wrote in the Sunday

Telegraph. “The task ahead is unquestionably vast, but it is not

insurmountable.”

Young people have been

particularly hard hit by the pandemic, even though they are less likely to

become seriously ill. The closure of schools during the spring coronavirus

lockdown cancelled national achievement tests in Britain and threw university

admissions into disarray. First-year students have had to forego social events

seen as a rite of passage at the start of their college careers, and the job

prospects for graduates look bleak as unemployment rises.

Britain already has

Europe’s worst death toll from the pandemic, with about 42,000 confirmed

deaths. But scientists who are urging more restrictive measures are being

challenged by critics fearing further damage to the economy.