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Standing 1m from person for 1 min 'has same coronavirus risk as 2m for 15 mins', says Matt Hancock

Ellen Manning
Updated ·2 min read
Elderly people wearing face masks wait while there is a two-hour delay at a pop-up covid19 drive-through and walk-in testing centre in Dalston, Hackney, east London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Picture date: Saturday May 2, 2020.
Matt Hancock said the government is working on the principle that being outdoors is a lot safer than being indoors. (PA)

Being one metre away from someone for one minute has the same risk of coronavirus transmission as being two metres away for 15 minutes, Matt Hancock has said.

The health secretary made the comment as he was asked about whether the current social distancing rule telling people to stay two metres away from each other would be amended.

He said while scientists would look at the rule, it remained the case that the closer people are to each other, the more likely they are to transmit COVID-19.

“The scientists tell me that they reckon at one metre, for one minute, that has the same risk of transmission as being at two minutes for 15 minutes,” he told LBC.

“So, it does make a big difference to transmission being close to someone. But the scientists are going to look at it again and put forward some advice.”

His comments come as the government’s test and trace system was launched on Thursday, hoped to reduce the spread of coronavirus as the government starts easing lockdown.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hancock said changes would be based on the principle that being “outside is safer than indoors”.

Talking about the possibility of pubs opening, he said: “The good thing that we’ve learned from the science of this virus in the last few weeks is that the risk of transmission outdoors is much lower – it’s not zero, but it is much lower than indoors.

“So, during the summer in particular, a lot of the changes that you can expect to see will be based on the principle that outdoors is safer than indoors.”

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