Families may soon be able to meet again
Ministers plan to allow greater social contact between friends and family
FAMILIES COULD soon find out when they will be reunited with their loved ones as Ministers are preparing to unveil plans to allow greater social contact between friends and family.
An announcement on a limited easing of the lockdown restrictions on physical contact may come by the end of the week, it is understood.
It would be a move which would give more clarity over, for example, when grandparents could hug their grandchildren again or those who have been isolating alone could see friends.
The anguish felt by grandparents was highlighted in the first of the public questions asked at the daily Downing Street press briefing, by a woman known only as Lynne from Skipton.
One month ago she asked: “I’m missing my grandchildren so much. Please can you let me know if, after the five criteria are met, is being able to hug our closest family one of the first steps out of lockdown?”
The question prompted an outpouring of empathy with posts on social media declaring “I am Lynne from Skipton”.
But although measures to reopen businesses and get workers back to their jobs have been announced, the question is yet to be answered.
Asked yesterday why people could not visit different households, such as where grandparents live, but non-essential shops and schools would reopen, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “One of the challenges is that it is very difficult to know where the virus has passed from and to.
“There is also a yearning to see people in another household, and we are looking at how we can make this happen in a safe way.”
Downing Street insiders suggested an announcement on the subject could come before the end of the week.
The Government had asked the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) to investigate whether it would be safe to allow households to merge with another in one exclusive group.
The idea of forming social “bubbles” could allow some physical contact while suppressing the risk of hiking the Covid-19 transmission rate because undetected infections would not spread so widely.
And asked whether garden parties and barbecues would be allowed at the end of June, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “All I can do is refer you to the road map.
“We will set out any further steps that we are able to take in relation to social contact or the use of outdoor spaces in due course and we will only move forward with proposals if it’s safe to do so and we are satisfied that we won’t be doing anything that could risk a second spike in infections that might overwhelm the NHS.”
But Ministers will be cautious as it comes amid research by King’s College London and Ipsos Mori showed trust in the Government to control the spread of coronavirus plummeted and more than half of people feel lockdown measures are being relaxed too quickly.
The study was carried out last week, before news broke that Mr Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings had driven more than 200 miles to isolate away from his London home during the lockdown.
More than 2,000 people in the UK were surveyed between May 20 and 22 to see how attitudes have changed since a similar poll in early April.
Results showed the proportion of people who say they trust the Government to control the spread of Covid-19 fell from 69 per cent to 51 per cent.
Just over a third (38 per cent) of people surveyed support the easing of restrictions announced by Mr Johnson in a televised speech to the nation on May 10, but the same percentage opposed them.
A little more than half (54 per cent) said they think the Government is relaxing the lockdown measures too quickly, twice as many as the 27 per cent who think they are being eased at about the right pace.