People who live alone to get to relax distancing
JOHNSON ANNOUNCES MEASURE TO HELP THE MOST LONELY
PEOPLE from single-person households will be allowed to get within two metres of family, partners or friends for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown began, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced.
It means couples who live in separate households will be able to get close to each other without breaking the rules for the first time since the compulsory lockdown was introduced on March 23.
Elderly people who live alone may be able to visit family members in their homes, and single parents may be able to take their children to visit friends or relatives.
Mr Johnson said: “I know how difficult the past months have been for people cut off from their friends and family.
“From this weekend we will allow single-adult households – adults living alone or single parents with children under 18 – to form a support bubble with one other household.
“All those in the support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household, meaning they can spend time together inside each other’s homes and do not need to say two metres apart.”
But there will still be strict rules in place. Here’s how the new system works:
■ People who live in households with just one adult will be able to form “support bubbles” with another household. It means that everyone in the bubble is treated like a single household – allowing members to visit each other at home, and get within two metres of each other.
■ One of the households must include only a single adult, although it can also have children.
■ The other household can have any number of adults. Every household can only be part of one “bubble”. That goes for the single-adult household and the second household as well.
■ The new rule doesn’t apply to people who have been told to stay at home because they have serious medical conditions. People who are ‘shielding’ cannot be part of support bubbles.
■ If any member of the support bubble gets coronavirus symptoms then everyone in the bubble – in both households – will need to go into isolation.
Mr Johnson said: “We are making this change to support those who are particularly lonely as a result of lockdown measures.”
In every other circumstance, the current lockdown rules remain in place. That means people can visit each other only in outdoor areas, not at home, in groups of six or fewer, and they must stay more than two metres away from each other.
Parents who are separated can continue to move children between households, as they could before (which means children in this situation are the only people who could potentially be in two different “bubbles”).
It’s the latest in a series of changes to the lockdown measures.
Non-essential shops and some outdoor attractions such as zoos, safari parks and drive-through cinemas will be invited to open from Monday.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 41,128 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Tuesday, up by 245 from 40,883 the day before.
Another three coronavirus deaths in North East hospitals have been confirmed, one each at the facilities of three hospital trusts – County Durham and Darlington; Northumbria and South Tees.
The patient who died at a County Durham and Darlington trust hospital passed away on June 8. The patient at Northumbria died on June 9 and the South Tees death happened on June 5.
There were no coronavirus deaths recorded at Sunderland and South Tyneside, Newcastle or Gateshead in the 24 hours to 5pm on Tuesday. The DHSC also said in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Wednesday, 170,379 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 1,003 positive results.
Overall, a total of 6,042,622 tests have been carried out, with 290,143 positive
results.