Coronavirus: No reduction in two-metre rule until next month, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has suggested there will be no reduction in the two-metre social distancing rule until next month.

The prime minister has launched an “urgent” comprehensive review into the coronavirus guideline.

But he revealed on Sunday the two-metre rule would remain under review until the next stage of the government’s planned reopening of the economy, scheduled for 4 July.

Non-essential retail shops are being allowed to open in England from Monday but pubs, clubs, restaurants, hairdressers and beauty salons are being told to stay closed.

This is due to the greater risk of transmission of COVID-19 in person-to-person contact over longer periods.

The government is under pressure to reduce the two-metre rule to one metre, as is recommended in countries such as France, Denmark and Singapore.

It has been claimed two-thirds of English pubs will be forced to stay closed unless the rule is reduced to one metre.

Senior Conservative MPs are urging the government to act now in order to save millions of jobs in the hospitality sector.

A relaxation of the measure could also help more schools to reopen and allow more pupils to return to classrooms.

Mr Johnson was asked about the review of the social distancing guideline on a visit to Westfield Stratford City, a shopping centre in east London, on Sunday.

“We’ll work very closely with the scientists at all times and make the right decision on the basis of safety, health and stopping the disease,” he said.

“The question for us is – as we get the numbers down so it becomes one in 1,000 (people infected with coronavirus), one in 1,600, maybe even fewer – your chances of being two metres or one metre or even a foot away from somebody who has the virus are obviously going down statistically.

“So you start to build some more margin for manoeuvre and we’ll be looking at that, and we’ll be keeping it under constant review as we go forward to the next step in our plan, which is 4 July.

“So we’ll be keeping it under review for 4 July.”

But the prime minister stressed he would not “sacrifice the huge efforts of the British people” in combating the spread of COVID-19.

“The country has come together to squash the incidence of the disease down and that gives us the potential now to look at those rules,” he added.

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Earlier, Chancellor Rishi Sunak told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday show that Mr Johnson had “put in place a comprehensive review of the two-metre rule”.

“Now we have made good progress in suppressing the virus, we’re at a different stage of the epidemic than we were at the beginning, and that enables us to take a fresh look at this,” he said.

“Obviously many other countries around the world use a different rule

“We have seen a couple of countries recently – Norway and Denmark – have moved from two metres to something less.”

Mr Sunak added: “It is important we look at it comprehensively in the round and that is what we will do urgently.”

The chancellor said he understood the “positive impact” a reduction in the two-metre rule would have on businesses’ ability to reopen.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith pointed to recent economic data that showed the UK suffered the biggest collapse in GDP ever seen as it plunged by 20.4% in April.

“There is a real economic imperative to get the economy moving again,” he told Sky News, as he expressed his hope the two-metre rule would be reduced “quickly”.

“One of the problems in moving the economy is that the two-metre rule hamstrings us in a whole series of areas.”

Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds warned if the government moved to a one-metre rule without it being supported by scientists, there would be a risk of a second peak of coronavirus infections which “could cause even greater economic damage”.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: No reduction in two-metre rule until next month, says Boris Johnson