Garden parties and barbecues to be allowed
From June, Government plans to permit social ‘bubbles’ and groups of up to 10 meeting out of doors
THE Government is drawing up plans to allow people to see their parents again, with garden parties and barbecues set to be allowed next month.
Small social gatherings outdoors will be able to take place from the end of June, in the latest relaxation of the lockdown rules. Boris Johnson unveiled the plans during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, but the ability to host others in your garden is to be accompanied by several preconditions.
The proposals may be part of a wider move to allow people to mix in “social bubbles” of up to 10 people outdoors.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) is understood to have advised ministers that infection from coronavirus is much less likely outdoors. The proposal is seen by some as a way of shoring up support for a similar idea of “protective bubble” groups within primary schools.
Under current plans, pupils returning to schools in England next month will be taught in groups of no more than 15 and kept apart from others in order to minimise risk and keep pupils safe. Signalling a potential change in the rules, the Prime Minister suggested that restrictions would be eased to allow greater “social contact” on Sunday.
Mr Johnson said: “We are making good progress, but that progress is conditional, provisional. We must keep reducing the incidence of this disease.”
The social distancing rules were relaxed slightly a fortnight ago to allow members of one household to meet a maximum of one person from a different household in a public place, provided they stay two metres apart.
The Government’s 50-page roadmap out of lockdown suggested that social bubbles could be created in which people can designate another household to socialise with. It reads: “The intention of this change would be to allow those who are isolated some more social contact, and to reduce the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions, while continuing to limit the risk of chains of transmission.
“This could be based on the New Zealand model of household ‘bubbles’ where a single ‘bubble’ is the people you live with. As in New Zealand, the rationale behind keeping household groups small is to limit the number of social contacts people have, and to limit inter-household transmission risks.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman previously confirmed the possibility of easing restrictions outdoors was under consideration by ministers.
He said there was mounting evidence that “there is less likelihood of transmission of this disease outdoors”.
The spokesman signalled that No 10 was open to the idea of social bubbles, saying the Government was “alive to the issue of social isolation and the need for mental wellbeing”. The idea has been trialled successfully close to home. Northern Ireland already allows groups of up to six people from different households to meet outdoors as long as they maintain social distancing.
The Welsh Government still prevents members of different households from meeting outdoors, although the health minister is reviewing the policy and a review is promised on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has promised to allow outside meetings between a maximum of two households from that date.
Scotland’s First Minister previously said she was considering expanding the definition of “households” to allow small gatherings of people, as a way of “encouraging people who live alone to match up with somebody else who is on their own, or a couple of other people to have bubbles of people”.
The proposal for more outdoor contact comes as the UK’S death toll from confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 36,914, up 121 from a day earlier. A senior government source said last night: “We are looking at ways in which we can ease some social restrictions, so we can have some social contact.”