Members of two different households will be able to eat, drink or dine together from July 4 in England as long as they stick to physical-distancing guidelines, the prime minister has announced, as he confirmed the two-metre rule will be dropped in favour of a “one-metre-plus” approach.
Households will be able to host visitors in their home, including overnight, and to meet with members of different households, on different occasions – including in a restaurant or hotel, for example.
The two-metre rule has been central to the government’s battle against the spread of Covid-19 but with infections declining, the cabinet has rubber-stamped new, less stringent guidance.
A “one-metre-plus” approach will mean members of the public can be one metre away from each other as long as other measures are put in place to limit the transmission of the virus.
These include wearing a face covering, installing screens, making sure people face away from each other, and providing extra handwashing facilities.
The changes to how many people or households can meet come as a swath of venues in England will be allowed to reopen from July 4, including hotels, campsites, hairdressers and churches.
All of these venues will be expected to collect and keep the contact details of visitors, so they can be traced in the event of a fresh local outbreak of the virus.
Theatres and concert halls will be also be able to reopen – but they cannot host live performances, because of concerns including the risk that singing transmits the virus.
Announcing the measures in the House of Commons, the prime minister heralded the beginning of the end of “our long national hibernation” and praised the public’s “common sense and perseverance,” in abiding by the government’s guidance in recent weeks.
He said the latest steps towards ending the lockdown were “entirely conditional on our continued defeat of the virus”.Johnson said the number of new infections was declining by 2% every day, and “while we remain vigilant, we do not believe there is currently a risk of a second peak of infections that might overwhelm the NHS”.
“Given the fall in the prevalence of the virus, we can change the two-metre rule from July 4,” the prime minister said, adding that it “effectively makes life impossible for large parts of the economy, even without other restrictions”.
“Where it is possible to keep two metres apart, people should,” he added.“But where it is not, we will advise people to keep a social distance of one metre-plus, meaning they should remain one metre apart, while taking mitigations to reduce the risk of transmission.”
With mitigations in place, he said the protection from the virus would be “broadly equivalent” to remaining two metres apart.
“Our principle is to trust the public to use their common sense in the full knowledge of the risks – remembering that the more we open up, the more vigilant we will need to be.”
Johnson said the Scottish and Welsh governments, and the Northern Ireland executive, would relax their own lockdown measures “at their own pace, based on their own judgment” but he believed all countries were moving in the same direction.
Concluding, Johnson said: “Today we can say that our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end, and life is returning to our streets and to our shops. The bustle is starting to come back, and a new but cautious optimism is palpable.
“But I must say to the house it would be all too easy for that frost to return.
“And that is why we will continue to trust in the common sense and the community spirit of the British people to follow this guidance, to carry us through, and to see us to victory over this virus.”
Downing Street has made clear it is prepared to reverse these “easements”, if the virus picks up again.
The decision on the two-metre rule was taken after a review carried out by the No 10 permanent secretary, Simon Case.
Johnson has been under intense pressure to relax the rule from Conservative backbenchers and businesses who warned they would be uneconomic with the two-metre rule in place.
Government officials stress it remains safer to stay two metres apart.
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, responding to Johnson, said: “Overall, I welcome this statement. I believe the government is trying to do the right thing, and in that we support them.”