19:39 Katie Collings

Question from member of public on meeting friends and family

When asked by a member of the public whether people can meet friends and family at the park while observing social distancing rules, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “just as a pair”.

Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, Mr Johnson said: “What we are saying is that you can go to the park to exercise on your own in an unlimited way, you can go with members of your own household.

“But if you want to meet somebody from outside your household, it’s got to be you and that other person just as a pair and you should observe social distancing while you’re there.

“And so each of you basically on a one-on-one thing but with social distancing, keeping two metres apart.”

The government’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said scientists on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) group were confident that “the risks of transmission outdoors was much lower than the risks of transmission indoors”.

But he added that they were not zero, adding: “We therefore want to take these modest steps one stage at a time and that’s why the ministers and the Government has decided to make this small change… but does not lead to people meeting multiple people outside their household at once.”

Mr Johnson added that meeting lots of members of family from another household at the park while standing two metres apart was “pushing it too far”.