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The two-metre (2m) rule has become one of the central points of contention across the UK as more lockdown coronavirus restrictions are easing across England, allowing single adults to stay at one other household from Saturday. Many have expressed fears that maintaining the 2m rule will impede the UK’s recovery. So when exactly will the 2m rule end?

What is social distancing?

Social distancing is an initiative implemented by authorities in the UK to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Essentially it means avoiding close contact with anyone you do not live with.

Specifically, in addition to a more stringent hygiene regime, people are advised to keep at least two metres (three steps) away from anyone they do not live with when outside their home.

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• MPs pile on pressure for Boris Johnson to scrap two-metre rule

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised to keep the 2m rule for social distancing “under constant review”.

The comments come after MPs and the hospitality industry have put the Government under increasing pressure to drop the distance to one metre to help reopen key businesses.

The hospital industry has been closed entirely since lockdown was implemented in March.

The Government’s roadmap established July as a potential date for reopening pubs and restaurants in England.

Is a one-metre distance safe?

Scientists have questioned whether reducing the distance from two metres to one would be safe.

Simply put, the nearer you are to an infected person the greater the risk of catching the virus.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said a one-metre distance is safe.

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• Pubs opening: One million jobs at risk due to two metre rule

Some countries have already adopted this new distance, however, the UK alongside a few other countries have maintained a two-metre rule.

The rules for distancing in different countries are as follows:

• 1m: China, Denmark, Norway, France, Hong Kong, Lithuania and Singapore
• 1.4m: South Korea
• 1.5m: Australia, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal
• 1.8m: The USA
• 2m: The UK, Canada and Spain.

According to a recent study in the medical journal the Lancet published on June 1, staying at least 1m away from people cuts your risk of catching COVID-19 by 80 percent.

Keeping more than a metre away from people with probable Covid, SARS or MERS cuts your risk of infection from about 13 percent (without physical distance measures) to about 3 percent according to the study.

The researchers also found that “for every 1m further away in distancing, the relative effect might increase 2·02 times”.

The study said: “From a policy and public health perspective, current policies of at least 1m physical distancing seem to be strongly associated with a large protective effect, and distances of 2m could be more effective”.

When will the 2m rule be scrapped?

Mr Johnson plans to end the 2m rule by September at the very latest so schools can reopen fully for the start of the new school year.

The Government’s chief scientific adviser Chris Whitty has said the two-metre distance is “not a rule”, but instead is a “risk-based assessment”.

This week the PM said: “The level of the epidemic, though it is way, way down, is not as low as we would like in order to relax the social distancing measures in schools.

“I think there’s a balance of risk to be struck and I think the issue for me is how far down we can get the incidence of this disease.”

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