Government scientific adviser says Britain’s two metre social distancing rule is unnecessary and based on ‘very fragile’ evidence
One of the top scientific advisers to the British Government said the two metre (6’6″) social distancing rule is based on ‘very fragile’ evidence.
People in the UK have been urged to stay at least 2m, or six-and-a-half feet, away from anyone who they don’t live with, to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19.
But the distance may be a non-scientific estimate that just caught on in countries around the world, as top researchers say there is not solid evidence to back it up.
Professor Robert Dingwall, a sociologist at Nottingham Trent University and a member of government advisory group NERVTAG (New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group) made the comments this morning.
He said that the World Health Organization and other countries in Europe had reduced this distance to one metre but the UK is persisting with the full 2m.
Professor Dingwall said BBC Radio 4 today: ‘The World Health Organization recommends a one metre distance, Denmark has adopted it since the beginning of last week.
‘If you probe around the recommendations of distance in Europe you will find that a lot of countries have also gone for this really on the basis of a better understanding of the scientific evidence around the possible transmission of infection.’
People in the UK still face rules dictating that they must stay at least 2m (6’6″) away from anyone who doesn’t live in their household (Pictured: Shoppers in a socially-distanced queue outside a Tesco supermarket in Birmingham)
Professor Dingwall has spoken out about the weakness of the two-metre rule in the past, suggesting it could safely be cut at least to 1.5m.
He has even suggested that it is being clung to by British officials because they don’t feel they can trust the public to manage a shorter distance.
Speaking to The Telegraph earlier this month Professor Dingwall said: ‘There is a fair degree of consensus now among people who are more expert on these things than I am that outdoor transmission is negligible…
‘Personally I think we could quite safely go to 1.5metres, which seems to be an internationally acceptable standard, inside and outside.’
He added that officials had told him they ‘did not think the British population would understand what one metre was and we could not trust them to observe it so we doubled it to be on the safe side’.
Although the British Government has loosened some of its lockdown restrictions, such as allowing people to spend as much time outside as they want to, everyone is still required to stick to the social distancing rule.
Lines on supermarket floors to keep shoppers apart, spaced out queues outside shops and takeaways and walking in the road to get round people on then pavement are now commonplace.
The thinking behind the rule is that it dramatically reduces the risk of virus droplets being able to jump between people.
The coronavirus spreads on invisible droplets of fluid that are expelled from someone’s mouth and nose when they breathe out, cough or sneeze.
If someone else breathes them in they will catch the infection when the virus latches on to cells in their airways.
Over the space of two metres the vast majority of these particles drop to the floor, away from potential victims, scientists say.