Advice to keep two metres apart while social distancing was ‘conjured up out of nowhere’, a government adviser has claimed.

Robert Dingwall, of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), says there has ‘never been a scientific basis for two metres’, naming it a ‘rule of thumb’.

NERVTAG is an expert committee of the Department of Health (DH) that feeds into the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which is advising the cabinet on the country’s coronavirus response.

Speaking to Radio 4 on Saturday, Mr Dingwall said: ‘We cannot sustain [social distancing measures] without causing serious damage to society, to the economy and to the physical and mental health of the population.

‘I think it will be much harder to get compliance with some of the measures that really do not have an evidence base. I mean the two-metre rule was conjured up out of nowhere.’

He added: ‘Well, there is a certain amount of scientific evidence for a one-metre distance which comes out of indoor studies in clinical and experimental settings.

‘There’s never been a scientific basis for two metres, it’s kind of a rule of thumb. But it’s not like there is a whole kind of rigorous scientific literature that it is founded upon.’

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UK government advice currently recommends people maintain a distance of two metres, while the World Health Organisation advises staying at least one metre away from others.

The WHO is assessing ongoing research on the ways Covid-19 is spread, as experts debate whether tiny airborne droplets that remain in the air for minutes to hours can cause infection.

Sociologist Mr Dingwall has previously claimed the government should ‘call off the dogs’, saying he has seen no evidence at NERVTAG that there is a major threat of coronavirus transmission outdoors.

He told The Telegraph: ‘If it was entirely down to me, I would be calling the dogs off. I don’t think it is appropriate to harass sunbathers.

‘It is an indictment of the political and scientific elite that they are not recognising that people living in flats and social housing do not have an alternative to going to parks.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted the government for comment.

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