SO WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES?

Confusion was sparked on Monday when the PM announced dramatic new restrictions on our movement. The new advice has been clarified. Here, we summarise the main points

SOCIAL DISTANCING

Everyone in the whole country has been told to follow these social distancing measures:

Avoid pubs, clubs, cinemas and restaurants

Avoid gatherings with friends and family. Keep in touch using the phone, internet, and social media

Try and stay off public transport, avoid rush hour and cancel all non-essential travel

Work from home

Use remote access to the NHS and essential services

Avoid contact with anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus including a cough or temperature

While everyone has been advised to implement social distancing certain groups have been told it is especially important and are ‘strongly advised to do so’.

These are:

All over-70s

Pregnant women

Any under-70s with an underlying health condition

As a rough guide, this covers those who are eligible for an annual flu jab including people with diabetes, chronic heart conditions, cancer patients and anyone with a weaker immune system.

SELF-ISOLATION

These measures are in place if you or anyone in your household develops a continuous new cough or a fever.

This applies to:

People who live alone – stay at home for seven days.

People who live with others – the entire household should stay at home for a total of 14 days from the day the first person in the household becomes symptomatic. This will allow everyone time to develop symptoms and recover without passing it to other people.

SHIELDING

These will apply to around 1.5 million of the most vulnerable people in Britain – who will be asked to ensure they are ‘largely shielded from social contact’ for three months. It will cover people including:

Anyone who has received an organ transplant and is on immunosuppression medication

People with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy

People with cancers of the blood such as leukaemia

People with cystic fibrosis or severe asthma

Anyone being shielded will need food delivered to their home By the weekend, new ‘shielding’ measures will be introduced, an extreme form of social distancing which is effectively lengthy self-isolation for twelve weeks.