Single people must choose between having sex or seeing their parents as lockdown eased to allow ‘social support bubbles’

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SINGLE people will be forced to choose between having sex or seeing their parents as the lockdown is eased to allow “social support bubbles”.

Earlier today Boris Johnson announced plans for “single bubbles” that will allow people to meet up from the weekend.

Singles will be able to visit family members who they haven’t seen for 12 weeks

But people will only be allowed to choose one other household as their “social support bubble”

The Prime Minister’s latest lifting of restrictions in England means people who live alone will be allowed to join one other household from Saturday.

But singles will be forced to choose their one social bubble, picking either their family or their lover. 

The move, which applies only to England, will allow people who live alone and single parents with children to form a “support bubble” with one other household.

They can visit each other’s homes, stay overnight and will no longer have to stay two metres apart — allowing lovers who live separately to be intimate for the first time in 12 weeks.

The changes will benefit up to eight million people who live on their own and another 2.9million single-parent families. 

But the arrangements must be exclusive — meaning people cannot mix with more than one other household.

Despite the latest lifting of restrictions the Government’s chief scientific adviser urged caution, warning that the “vast majority of the population remains susceptible to the infection”.

‘MANY LONELY OR ISOLATED PEOPLE’

Sir Patrick Vallance said: “It urges going slowly with changes and it urges measuring very carefully to see the impact and being prepared to reverse things where measures have been taken that have an impact on this, and importantly means looking for outbreaks locally and dealing with those fast.”

And in a stern warning not to lift lockdown too quickly, chief medical officer Chris Whitty said: “We are not at the end of this epidemic, not by a long shot. We are in the middle of it.”

The changes coming in on Saturday are designed to help the country’s “many lonely or isolated people” who are seen as hardest hit by the lengthy lockdown.

The PM said: “I know how difficult the past months have been for people cut off from their friends and family. 

“There are still too many people, particularly those who live by themselves, who are lonely and struggling with being unable to see friends and family.

“From this weekend, we will allow single adult households — so adults living alone or single parents with children under 18 — to form a ‘support bubble’ with one other household.

‘CANNOT SWITCH BUBBLE’

“All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household — meaning they can spend time together inside each other’s homes and do not need to stay two metres apart.

“I want to stress that support bubbles must be exclusive — meaning you cannot switch the household you are in a bubble with or connect with multiple households.

“And if any member of the support bubble develops symptoms, all members of the bubble will need to follow the normal advice on household isolation.” 

But the plans will not apply to people in the “critically vulnerable” category, who will need to continue to stay shielded.

No 10 promised updated advice for the shielding category will be published soon.

The new rules will not be policed but Mr Johnson warned that the plans are “emphatically not designed for people who don’t qualify to start meeting inside other people’s homes — that remains against the law”.

He said: “We are making this change to support those who are particularly lonely as a result of lockdown measures.

“It is a targeted intervention to limit the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions.”

But No 10 acknowledged that the plans will not help everyone and insisted it was just the latest stage in the journey back to normality.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “It’s not something that’s going to help everyone — we accept that but we have to take cautious steps.

“There’s a particular concern around people who have been living home alone or those lone parents who have not been able to have support with childcare.

“It will be taken on trust and as you’ve seen already the public have shown great responsibility.

“They’ve understood what we’re trying to do which is stop the transmission of the virus and I think people understand the need not to spread this virus between multiple households, and of course what people don’t want to do is pass this on to a loved one or a friend.”

Brits will also be allowed into places of worship for private prayer.

And from Monday all shops will be allowed to open their doors for the first time since lockdown was imposed on March 23.