Care home residents can have a second regular indoor visitor from April 12 – with some grandparents set to meet new grandchildren for the first time.
Family members who have tested negative for coronavirus – and are dressed in PPE – can hold hands with relatives.
One visitor per resident has been permitted since the partial easing of restrictions on March 8.
But elderly grandparents have been denied the chance to see babies born during the pandemic.
The relaxation announced today means they can finally meet the newest members of their families.
Alzheimer’s Society research director Fiona Carragher said: “We’re so pleased two named visitors will be able to have meaningful close-contact visits with loved ones in care homes from April 12.”
Gil Chimon, of care home provider Vida Healthcare, said: “The planned extension of the number of visitors to two per resident is an exciting step in our journey back to normality.
“And we’re really looking forward to more family members and friends being able to reunite with their loved ones.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the success of the vaccination programme and the “tireless work” of care home staff meant the rules on visits could be relaxed “in a safe and controlled way”.
It comes as campaigners have launched legal action against the Government over its guidance which bans people in residential care over the age of 65 from taking trips outside the home, branding the rules "discriminatory".
John's Campaign, which fights for relatives to have better access to their loved ones while they are in care, argues that by imposing a blanket ban regardless of the health of the individual, the Government is acting unlawfully.
It said the Equality Act 2010 prohibits indirect discrimination, but the guidance on care home visits "permits (indeed, requires) just such a discriminatory approach to be taken".
It is also fighting to have the rules on self-isolation - which dictate anyone who leaves a care home must self-isolate for 14 days upon return - to be overturned.
In a letter to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the campaign's solicitors Leigh Day said the guidance must balance the Covid-19 risk against the harm caused by keeping people away from their families.
