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Boris Johnson has said he is “sticking like glue” to his road map for easing the coronavirus lockdown for the hospitality sector from July 4, and will this week unveil his plan for the future of the two-metre rule.
This could mean the reopening of pubs, cafes, restaurants, hotels and possibly hairdressers.
In a Downing Street interview on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister said: “The disease is increasingly under control and I just want people to reflect on that important fact.
“It’s going down, we are getting it down.
“So, of course, as we make that progress it will be possible to open up more and you will be hearing more about what we want to do with not just non-essential retail but with the hospitality sector from July 4 and we’re sticking absolutely like glue to the road map to the plan that I set out on May 10.
“On the progress on social distancing, watch this space and you won’t have much more to wait now. You’ll certainly be hearing more this week.”
He added: “But it’s very important we don’t lose our vice-like grip on the disease; we’ve got to keep it on the floor where we’ve got it.”
Earlier today Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said it was his “hope” that the two-metre rule could be relaxed.
He said screens and masks are measures that would mitigate the risk of spreading coronavirus if the two-metre rule is changed.
Hancock added reducing the distance people had to stay apart would also “undoubtedly” help with the full reopening of schools.
The health secretary also confirmed people might be asked to register their attendance before visiting a pub for a drink, as it would then make it easier to trace them should someone in the venue subsequently test positive for coronavirus.
Professor Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told the BBC this morning he would be happy for the two-metre rule to be cut.
“It created a false sense of security. It’s not suddenly beyond two metres there is no risk,” he said.
“I would rather be at one metre of someone who is infected but if both of us wear a mask, than at two metres without a mask.”
But Piot added to the pressure on the government to abandon its policy of quarantining people arriving in the UK for 14-days, describing it as “completely useless”.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Labour would support the end of the two-metre rule if other safety measures, such as face coverings, are put in place.