A new law to be presented to the Health Secretary for England this week could allow people to visit their relatives in care homes.
Care home visits have effectively been banned through parts of the pandemic and lockdown in a bid to protect residents from Covid-19.
In England, care homes are currently told to try to allow outside and 'screened' visits from relatives, as well as visits in exceptional circumstances - such as end of life.
But new legislation has reportedly been drafted in a bid to allow families the right to receive visits again, the Daily Mail reports.
Harriet Harman, chairman of the Commons joint committee on human rights, said that outright visiting bans are a breach of the Human Rights Act.
She is reported to have said: "We have drafted a complete set of regulations which mean a close relative is treated the same as someone who works in the home.
"A relative is part of the care team and the care home must allow a visit by this person significant to the service user.
"Everybody has a right to a family life. That's one of the basic human rights. You don't stop having a right to family life just because you live in residential care, in fact family can be even more important."
