Government Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed that new lockdown rules mean people will be able to meet a new person every day in the park.
Speaking to Sky News this morning Mr Hancock said that being outside was safer than being inside, although he warned that it was not zero risk.
He added: "We are making some baby steps, some relaxations but we're doing it very, very carefully - because we don't want the R rate to get above one and infections get out of control again."
Asked if someone could meet a friend in their garden, as long as distancing rules were adhered to, Mr Hancock told BBC Breakfast: “It’s not necessarily more safe than meeting in a park, and we said that should only happen in public places.
“For instance, a lot of people can only get to their garden by going through their house, and being with people indoors is not as safe as outdoors, and so that is why we have come to this judgment.”
Mr Hancock said the Government had restricted people to seeing only one person from outside their household at a time in the new measures in order to stop mass gatherings.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “What we don’t want is large groups of people gathering, and you have to make a judgment to what is reasonable and where to set the rules.
“It is perfectly reasonable to have a rule that only one individual can meet up with one other, at that two-metre distance, and outside is safer than inside because the science is clear that, although the risks are not zero, there is a lower risk to people being outside.
“Therefore, a rule that you can only meet up with one other person just protects everybody against that burgeoning into large groups of people.”
