Queen guitarist Brian May has criticised meat-eating for the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The 72-year-old, who has been vegan since the beginning of 2020, explained that eating animals "has brought the species to its knees", reports mirror.co.uk.

The legendary musician then urged people to re-examine their relationship to animals.

"If you want to get deep into it, I think we should be looking again at whether we should be eating animals," the musician told NME.

"That's a central issue here, this pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals and it's becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health."

The rocker suggested that effects of meat eating had become more obvious during the pandemic and believed that something had to change.

"To go vegan was just a decision, and I haven't been preachy about it, but now we've seen more of the effects of how eating animals has brought us to our knees as a species, I think it's time to re-examine our world in a way that doesn't abuse other species."

Brian also explained that he would be "more preachy" about the topic in the future because he believes it's the way forward.

"Whether we will see that happen, I don't know, but I think I will start to be a bit more preachy about veganism because to me it is the way forward, in so many ways."