Exercise restraint on restrictions, Boris

SO how far are we allowed to travel from our homes in order to take exercise?

The police don’t seem to know, the public hasn’t a clue and even the Prime Minister seems a little shaky on the question.

The rules say you should exercise ‘locally’ but, as Met Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted yesterday, no one has clarified what local means.

Two women were fined in Derbyshire last week after driving five miles to a beauty spot. Yet Boris Johnson went cycling around the Olympic Park seven miles from his home and claims it was within the rules.

The Mail doesn’t seek to blame or reproach Mr Johnson. But the furore surrounding his jaunt to east London shows how confusing and inconsistent the regulations are.

Ministers could be more prescriptive, specifying maximum distance. But what is the optimum? Two miles? One? A hundred yards? Indeed, Commissioner Dick suggests people shouldn’t drive anywhere to take exercise, but start and finish their journey on foot at their own front door.

How far is it acceptable to run? Or cycle? And would stricter limits make the slightest difference to Covid rates anyway? Almost certainly not.

At any time exercise is crucial to both our physical and mental well-being. In lockdown this is doubly true.

Discouraging people from leaving the confinement of their homes for a bit of fresh air and freedom would be cruel and counter-productive.

Instead of friends meeting for a sociallydistanced stroll outside (where, as chief medical officer Chris Whitty has made clear, there is scant danger of viral transmission), they might get together indoors, which is a risk.

Still, if people keep flouting the rules, restrictions could be tightened even further to halt the alarming spread of the disease.

But unless there is genuine evidence that further prohibitions on outdoor constitutionals will cut infection rates they should not be entertained.