Matt Hancock was unable to tell a grandmother when she could hug her family as he dodged the government’s first coronavirus question from the public.
Number 10 today introduced public questions to the daily briefing in a shake-up to the session’s format.
Out of 15,000 questions submitted to be the first asked at the briefing, pollster YouGov picked Lyn from Skipton, who asked when she would be able to hug her grandchildren.
She wrote: “I'm missing my grandchildren so much. Please can you let me know if, after the five criteria are met, is being able to hug our closest family one of the first steps out of lockdown?"
The Health Secretary immediately passed the question to Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty.
Professor Whitty said the answer would depend on whether she has a "significant medical problem in a way that means she has to be shielding and she's an older person".
”If she's in a group that's vulnerable, then the answer is it might well be prudent - and this will depend entirely on individual circumstances - for her not to get into a situation where she's putting herself at risk," he continued.
"The overall view that actually one of the things that is clearly important to everybody is the ability to get together with families remotely but also physically everyone fully accepts.
"Nevertheless it is important that people who are vulnerable continue to be protected even after whatever the next steps are."
Mr Hancock went on to say that he hoped the answer was “as soon as possible.”
He said: “We understand the impact of not being able to hug your closest family. It affects all of us too.
“As well as the direct health impacts of the lockdown bringing down the curve and trying to stop this terrible disease and also the economic impacts which are obviously very significant, there are also the direct emotional bonds because it's one of the most natural things in the world to want to hug a member of your family.
“And we just hope we can get back to that as soon as possible and the best way we can get there fastest is to follow the rules so we can get those 5 criteria met as soon as possible.”
Mr Hancock thanked Lyn for her question, saying it showed “questions from members of the public can be just as informative and just as difficult to answer as questions from journalists who are trained to ask them.”
