BORIS WANTS TO CUT 2M DISTANCE RULE
BORIS Johnson last night signalled the social-distancing rule could soon be shortened from two metres.
But the Prime Minister warned it was only possible if the rate of infections from the coronavirus continues to fall.
He urged the public to continue obeying the rules and not be tempted to visit other households as wet weather arrives.
Speaking at yesterday’s Downing Street media briefing, Mr Johnson said: “We are seeing continuous falls in the disease, in deaths, in incidence, and that has meant we’ve been able to take the very cautious steps that we have.
“We want to take some more steps to...try to get back to as normal as possible.
“Eventually I would like to do such things as reducing the two-metre rule, for instance.
But all those changes, all that future progress depends entirely on the ability to keep reducing the incidence and driving down that disease.
“That depends on us following the basic rules.”
And Mr Johnson made a special plea amid forecasts of heavy rain. He said: “I want to stress one final point which may be relevant as the weather threatens, I think, to take a turn for the worse.
“Some of you may be tempted to move the gatherings you’ve been enjoying outdoors indoors, out of the rain. I really urge you – don’t do that.
“The risks of passing on the virus are significantly higher indoors, which is why gatherings inside other people’s homes are still prohibited.”
Alongside Mr Johnson was Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, who said everything is moving in the right direction – despite a small increase in the daily death toll.
Sir Patrick said there had been a steady decline in cases, with hospital admissions and deaths following the same broad pattern.
Some 1,871 more cases were confirmed yesterday and a further 359 deaths – up from 324 the previous day – took the official toll to 39,728.
Sir Patrick said driving down cases as much as possible in the coming months would put us in the best position going into winter. He said: “We need to keep vigilant. The numbers are in the right direction, things are getting better, they are coming down. But we have to stick with the rules of distancing, we all have to do it.”
Mr Johnson also vowed more support for the “many, many” workers who will lose their jobs in the economic downturn as a result of the pandemic.
He promised to guarantee apprenticeships for young people worried about the threat of long-term unemployment.
He said: “There is no other country in the world that I think has done as much as the UK in terms of putting our arms around workers with the furlough scheme, looking after companies that have run into difficulties, helping in any way that we can.
“We will be just as interventionist in the next phase, investing in the UK economy, investing in infrastructure, taking our country forward so that we bounce back as sharply and as decisively as we can.
“For young people in particular, for whom the risk of losing jobs is the highest, it is going to be vital that we guarantee apprenticeships.
“We have to look after people across the board, but young people in particular.”