PEOPLE will be able to see family and friends again after seven weeks of lockdown, the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs has said.

In a series of interviews this morning Dominic Raab provided further details on the Government’s updated stance on coronavirus mitigation measures after Boris Johnson’s speech yesterday evening left many questions unanswered.

This included telling the BBC that families and friends from different households would now be able to meet up in public places, if they followed certain precautions and showed “common sense”.

This was forbidden under previous Stay Home advice delivered by the Prime Minister in late March.

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The Argus:

Mr Raab said: “If you go out of (your) home to the park for exercise or whatever it may be, you can go with members of your own household.

“If you’re out in the park and you’re two metres apart, we’re saying, now, if you use some common sense and you socially distance then you can meet up with other people.

“The key thing is people want to get outdoors, particularly with this weather, particularly, I think, for mental health (reasons) and, frankly, I think the frustration people feel if they are cooped for too long for protracted periods, we want to make sure that people can enjoy the outdoors more.

“But people must stay alert because the more we do some of the things we want to do, the more we need to just be careful about this social distancing.

The Argus:

“We will keep the two metres social distancing and they will be fine in those outdoor spaces.”

When quizzed on whether somebody would be allowed to meet one relative in the morning and another in the afternoon, he answered: “Outside, in the outdoors, if you stay two metres apart, yes.”

But the Government has been forced to clarify that people could not meet up with two relatives at the same time.

An aide told The Independent: "They can see both parents, but not at the same time – they would have to see them individually."

Dominic Raab's statements follow the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Government is now urging people to Stay Alert rather then the Stay Home mantra which has been used previously.

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It is being seen as the beginnings of an ease in lockdown measures, with unlimited outdoor exercise now allowed as opposed to the one bout of short outdoor activity which had previously been encouraged.

  • The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set up to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund