Gary Barlow is avoiding fans during his festive UK tour over COVID-19 fears.

The Take That singer - whose run of shows kicked off in Belfast over the weekend - is terrified of the coronavirus and he's doing everything he can to protect himself and the tour as a whole.

He told The sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "We just want to make it through to the end of the tour, which will be a miracle.

"I won't be coming near anybody. If fans start trying to come near us we are going to be running...

"We have to be so strict. One bad encounter and that could be the tour gone. I am really going to keep myself to myself."

The 'Greatest Day' hitmaker admitted his priority is getting "on stage every night".

He added: "I am going to be slipping in and out of the venues and hotels quickly. I want to make sure I am on stage every night."

Meanwhile, Gary revealed he doesn't watch the news anymore because he's so scared by the pandemic.

He said: "I'm trying not to watch the news as it scares the life out of me but right now the show is great."

The 'Shine' singer is touring to promote both his new festive album 'The Dream of Christmas', and 2020's 'Music Played by Humans', which topped the UK charts when it was released in November 2020.

Earlier this month, he said: "When the tour moved to Christmas, it started to make sense. “I’m now going to be touring two albums, which is something I’ve never done before. I thought, ‘I don’t usually tour in December, we can turn the whole stage into Christmas, we can make it snow…’ It all started to make sense to me.

"Because of all the stuff that happened last Christmas, I thought, ‘Bloody hell, this could be the biggest Christmas we ever know.’ I know there is talk of all the radio stations going 100 per cent Christmas about three weeks earlier than they normally would and maybe that’s a sign that it is going to go that way.

"And I’m celebrating it this year with a record and by going on tour. It’s going to be a big December for me.”