Brits could soon be allowed to meet up with one other household under new coronavirus lockdown rules

Kit Heren11 May 2020

Brits could be allowed to meet up with one group of close friends or family under new coronavirus lockdown rules.

Addressing the House of Commons on Monday, Boris Johnson told MPs: “Nothing can substitute for human contact and so the Government has asked Sage (the Science Advisory Group for Emergencies) when and how we can safely allow people to expand their household group to include one other household on a strictly reciprocal basis.”

Mr Johnson's comments followed the publication of a new Government strategy document, detailing that British people should only socialise with one person outside of their household, while still keeping a two-metre distance.

But the report added that Dumber 10 is “considering a range of options to reduce the most harmful social effects" of lockdown, including being separated from family and close friends from separate households.

Meanwhile, Sage is looking at the option of letting two households mix - but only with each other.

The strategy explained: "If Household A merges with B, Household B cannot also elect to be in a group with Household C.

“This would create a chain that would allow the virus to spread widely.”

The aim is to reduce loneliness and its health effects, as well as to enable families in different households to share childcare duties - which could help some people go back to work, the Government said.

The move would be similar to measures put in place in New Zealand, which calls the mixing households "bubbles". Belgium has also announced a similar scheme.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern  
Getty Images

The New Zealand Government has said that "bubbles" should be small and made up of households that are near to each other.

Households with vulnerable people should be careful about forming bubbles, the New Zealand Government added.

Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, warned of the dangers of "bubbles".

He said: “Friends living under different roofs are just as likely as complete strangers to transmit the virus and can be argued to be of greater risk to each other because they’re likely to spend a greater amount of time in each other’s company.”

Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast

Meanwhile small weddings could also be allowed again soon, the Government said.

The strategy added: "Over the coming weeks, the Government will engage on the nature and timing of the measures in this step, in order to consider the widest possible array of views on how best to balance the health, economic and social effects.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in