2-metre Rule Must Stay To Save Lives

Health chiefs warn easing social distancing risks second wave of pandemic

- Hanna Geissler

Scrapping the two-metre rule could risk a devastating rise in coronavirus infections, experts warn.

Boris Johnson has been urged not to bow to pressure to relax restrictions too soon.

The Government is facing mounting calls to ease social distancing measures to help businesses that will struggle to meet requirements.

But with thousands of new cases still emerging every week, easing restrictions too early could spark a second wave of Covid-19 that wreaks even more economic damage. The warning came as a survey showed most Britons think the two-metre rule should remain.

A poll by YouGov found 58 per cent of people wanted to keep the current distance, while 24 per cent wanted to drop to one metre.

Eight per cent said all restrictions should be scrapped.

The Royal Society for Public Health said the two-metre rule should remain in place for now.

It warned that many people already underestimate how far two metres is and dropping to one could effectively see an end to social distancing.

Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, an RSPH Trustee and epidemiologist at Imperial College London, said: “The evidence shows the further apart we are, the lower the risk of transmission. We should keep with the two-metre rule until and unless the scientific advice based on evolving evidence changes. We must put health first.”

When someone speaks, coughs or sneezes, they release tiny droplets into the air which could be harbouring coronavirus.