Coronavirus: Couples told to move in together or remain apart during lockdown

‘Covid cohabitees’: Government tells couples who live apart to either ‘commit’ and move in together or go without seeing each other throughout the coronavirus lockdown which could last MONTHS

  • Couples who do not live together have been told not to visit each other’s homes
  • Advice is now for couples to either live together or remain apart for lockdown
  • Health Secretary Matt Hancock: Couples must ‘make a choice and stick with it’
  • Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

The government today told couples who do not live together to either commit and move in with each other or remain apart for the duration of the coronavirus lockdown. 

Boyfriends and girlfriends who do not share accommodation have been warned not to visit each other’s homes and official guidance also suggests they must not meet in public.

Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries suggested this afternoon couples needed to either decide to live together or to not see each other during the lockdown which will be reviewed after three weeks but could last a lot longer.

Dr Harries said that whatever couples decide to do they need to commit to it because ‘what we do not want is people switching in and out of households’ as the nation tries to slow the spread of the deadly disease.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was more blunt as he told couples across the UK: ‘Make a choice and stick with it.’

Matt Hancock , the Health Secretary, today said couples needed to ‘make a choice and stick with it’ in terms of whether they live together or remain apart during the coronavirus lockdown

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said couples needed to choose to either live together or remain apart because ‘what we do not want is people switching in and out of households'

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said couples needed to choose to either live together or remain apart because ‘what we do not want is people switching in and out of households’

Boris Johnson last night urged the nation to stay at home as he imposed the most sweeping restriction of social freedoms ever in peacetime in the UK.

But what the new rules actually mean for people in terms of how they live their lives is still sinking in. 

The guidance issued by the government said people should only leave their homes to shop for basic necessities, for one form of exercise a day, for any medical need or for work if ‘absolutely necessary’.

It did not mention any exemption for people who are in a relationship but who do not live together. 

Dr Harries said people in a relationship effectively needed to decide whether to live together or not and then stay that way. 

Speaking at the government’s daily coronavirus press conference in 10 Downing Street, she said: ‘If you are two individuals, two halves of the couple, currently in separate households, ideally they should stay in those households.

‘The alternative might be that for quite a significant period going forward they should just test the strength of their relationship and decide whether one wishes to be permanently resident in another household in which case all of the decisions about exercising, if you are in you should be on your own or within your household unit, would apply.

‘What we do not want is people switching in and out of households. It defeats the purpose of the reduction in social interactions and will allow transmission of disease.

‘So perhaps test really carefully your strength of feeling, stay with the household either together or apart but keep it that way while we go forward because otherwise we will not all be working towards achieving our outcome.’

Downing Street had earlier said the guidance was ‘clear’ on the circumstances in which people can leave their house and the ‘rules should be applied to all scenarios’ in a clear statement that people should not be visiting their partners. 

Asked to clarify the situation, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘I think the rules are clear. You should look at those, they are an instruction from the government given for a very specific reason which is to save lives.

‘People should follow the rules and do so in a common sense way.’

The spokesman said the guidance stated that when people leave their homes they should either do so alone or ‘with members of your own household or if it is for work reasons’, clearly ruling out meeting a partner.