LOS ANGELES • Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly has apologised for her Instagram post on March 17, which suggested that she refused to self-quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The post in question was a photo of her morning tea, captioned "#morningtea Just dropped my kids off at gymnastics camp. They all washed their hands before going in. They are playing and laughing. #businessasusual".

The actress, who got her big break in television drama Lost (2004 to 2010), received backlash from her followers, who berated her for not self-isolating with her family and for letting her children socialise.

One of her followers wrote: "I've always been a fan of yours. But I'm sorry. You are being extremely selfish and irresponsible with people's lives."

But Lilly defended her remarks, even saying that the virus could possibly be a political ploy. Her belittling comment that there's "something" every election year further incensed her followers.

However, in an Instagram post on Thursday, Lilly apologised for the "insensitivity shown in her previous post to the very real suffering and fear that has gripped the world through Covid-19".

She wrote: "My direct and special apologies to those most affected by this pandemic. I never meant to hurt you. When I wrote that post 10 days ago, I thought I was infusing calm into the hysteria.

"I can see now that I was projecting my own fears into an already fearful and traumatic situation."