Hug your friends and family in just over a FORTNIGHT

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Britons will be allowed to hug their friends and family in just over a fortnight as ministers look set to follow through with the next stage of Boris Johnson‘s roadmap out of lockdown.

The country’s hugely-successful vaccine drive – coupled with social distancing rules – has meant just one in 1,000 people in England now have Covid, and the R rate is still below 1. 

The drop in figures means the government will likely approve the next stage of England’s lockdown easing on May 17.

From that date, limits on outdoor meetings are set to be lifted while the rule of six – or two households rule – will apply indoors. 

And international travel looks set to resume as well, but with mandatory Covid tests and quarantine likely remaining in place for most holiday destinations, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Ministers could also relax social distancing between friends and family on May 17 – meaning loved ones kept apart for months may finally be allowed to hug.  

Government guidance states the advice ‘on social distancing between friends and family’ will be updated on May 17. 

And a source told The Times: ‘The data is looking very good. The scientists say we’re on track for the next stage unless something changes dramatically.’ 

Britain’s daily Covid deaths have fallen by nearly two thirds in a week as health chiefs recorded just 15 fatalities on Friday. 

Department of Health bosses also posted another 2,381 cases, with the outbreak remaining stable. 

Last Friday there were 2,678 infections and 40 deaths reported. 

Another 610,000 vaccines were also dished out, with 14.5million Britons now fully vaccinated against coronavirus. 

It comes as separate data showed England’s Covid cases have plunged by 40 per cent in a week, with just one in every 1,010 people now carrying the virus.

Office for National Statistics data suggested the total number of infections is lower than at any point since early September and infections have been falling constantly for five weeks. 

Its report showed that cases were still tumbling in all regions except Yorkshire and the East of England ‘where the trends are uncertain’. 

They also came down in all children and teenagers and people over 35, increasing only in young adults. 

And SAGE yesterday estimated the R rate was between 0.8 and 1.1, meaning the outbreak is still flat. 

It is up slightly on the 0.8 – 1.0 last week, and reflects the state of the outbreak a fortnight ago because the data takes time to filter through. 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock tweeted about the numbers, saying: ‘This data is hugely promising and shows that our strategy is working.’ 

Experts said the data ‘should be celebrated’ and were the first proof that, despite the reopening of outdoor hospitality and allowing the rule of six earlier this month, there was still ‘no evidence of an increased transmission risk’. 

Evidence that Covid has been stamped out in Britain is now overwhelming as the vaccine rollout speeds ahead and official figures show 22million people – one in three – live in areas where not a single person has died with the virus this month. 

It marks a seismic shift from the UK’s dire situation in January at the height of the second wave, when fewer than 50,000 Britons were in places with zero coronavirus victims during that month. 

But a member of the Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that while the role of vaccines in keeping down coronavirus infections is growing, caution must be exercised in easing restrictions.

Professor Adam Finn told BBC Newsnight: ‘I think the role of the vaccine programme is increasing week on week.

‘Increasingly we’re seeing the impact of the vaccine, initially on hospitalisation and now increasingly actually on transmission of the virus. So we are in a good place.

‘The low figures are a reflection of that but I think there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last 14 months is that how things are today is not a close and accurate predictor of how things will be in two or three months time, so we have to expect a certain amount of instability going forward, I don’t think this is all over yet.’ 

He said a ‘very large’ number of people are yet to be vaccinated or survived infection so remain vulnerable to the virus, and warned there is a ‘need to play it safe and not wander too close to the edge of the cliff’. 

NHS data yesterday revealed that only tiny numbers of people are being hospitalised with coronavirus after their first vaccine dose has kicked in.

Numbers analysed by SAGE showed that around one per cent of people hospitalised with the virus in the second wave were three weeks post-vaccine, by which time they are expected to have protection.  

There were 526 people admitted with Covid three or more weeks after their first jab, out of a total of 52,000 inpatients included in the study. 

Those 526, who were expected to have vaccine protection, made up 29 per cent of all people admitted at any time after the first jab. 

The other 71 per cent fell ill too soon after their vaccine to have any real immunity.

These ‘vaccine failure’ patients were almost all very elderly and frail, SAGE advisers said, and fit into the same group for whom the jabs are less likely to work.  

Professor Calum Semple, member of SAGE and a Liverpool University virologist, said the data were ‘reassuring’ that even single doses of vaccines are protecting people in the real world.

The numbers show the rate of hospitalisation remained high during the first week after the jab but then fell dramatically in the second and third weeks and beyond. 

Other trials have shown that not all elderly people have an immune response to the first dose of a vaccine – which may explain why some still end up in hospital after their jab – but generally everybody shows signs of immunity after the second dose.  

The promising figures come as thousands of revellers returned to the dancefloor at the UK’s first post-lockdown ‘nightclub’ rave on Friday. 

Nightlife promoter Circus hosted The First Dance in Liverpool, where revellers did not have to wear face coverings or social distance for the first time since before lockdown began. 

The line-up included Circus founder and DJ Yousef, Lewis Boardman and The Blessed Madonna. Fatboy Slim is among the acts due to perform on Saturday.

Ravers have to take a lateral flow test 24 hours before the event in order to release their e-ticket, and have to produce a negative result to gain entry.  

They are then asked to take another test five days after the rave and submit the results.

Inside the Bramley-Moore Dock warehouse, crowds packed the floor to dance shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time in more than a year. 

Club-goers were seen hugging and kissing each other, with some sitting on others’ shoulders for a better view of the stage.  

 

Merseyside Police has even had to reassure concerned members of the public after receiving messages from people who saw footage of the non-socially distanced event.

The force said: ‘This is fortunately a legal event which is part of the pilot scheme.’

It is hoped the event, the first of two taking place on consecutive nights, will pave the way for clubs across the country to reopen their doors. 

But critics say the event bears little resemblance to an actual club night, with the event starting at 2pm and revellers getting kicked out by 11pm.  

People involved in the trial do not need to socially distance from strangers nor wear a mask, but must be over 18, live in the Liverpool City region and registered to a GP, and must be showing no signs of Covid-19 symptoms.

The trial events are designed to advance the reopening roadmap’s plan to scrap social distancing on June 21. 

The club night is led by scientists, aided by researchers inside to ‘monitor’ crowds and study ‘behavioural’ responses of people after a year of social distancing.

A board of advisers, made up of independent scientists and public health experts, will assess the data and present results to Ministers at the end of May.