An easing of lockdown rules could allow people to socialise with up to ten of their closest family and friends, it can be revealed today.
Ministers are looking at whether to relax the strict 'stay at home' advice to let small groups of households 'cluster' together.
It would allow close family members to meet for meals, or enable friends to share childcare. It could also allow couples who do not live together to see each other.
In an idea reminiscent of BT's 'Friends and Families' scheme, people would nominate a small list of those they want to be able to see, drawn from no more than one or two households.
Those involved would then be able to meet for meals and other social activities. But neither group would be allowed to mingle with others outside the 'cluster'.
Ministers are still grappling with how to enforce the new system and prevent a free-for-all that could allow the coronavirus epidemic to take hold again.
A Whitehall source said: 'If we can find a way to allow a bit more flexibility without risking transmission of the disease running higher then we will do it.'
Belgium and Scotland are also looking at the idea. The move came as:
- Demand for new home testing kits saw a day's supply of 5,000 run out in just two minutes as an online booking system was opened up to almost 11million key workers;
- Boris Johnson prepared to return to Downing Street on Monday;
- Motorists were set to be told to stay off roads unless their journey is essential after data showed a leap in traffic levels;
- Councils agreed to reopen 340 parks and green spaces following an intervention by Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick;
- Official figures showed another 768 people in UK hospitals had died of coronavirus, taking the death toll to 19,506;
- Ministers received scientific advice suggesting outdoor settings are 'much safer' than previously thought, raising hopes garden centres could reopen;
- Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty admitted contact tracing, which is now being ramped up, was abandoned last month partly because of a lack of resources;
- Transport Secretary Grant Shapps revealed drones will be used to deliver medical supplies to the Isle of Wight next week as part of a trial;
- No10 distanced itself from Donald Trump after he suggested researchers should look at whether injecting disinfectant could help protect people from the disease.
An easing of lockdown rules could allow people to socialise with up to ten of their closest family and friends. Crowds flocked to London's Hyde Park yesterday, pictured, to enjoy the sunshine despite the ongoing social distancing rules
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, pictured, yesterday warned the government would not ease lockdown restrictions until ministers were certain they could prevent a deadly second wave of infection.
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Britain's R0 IS below one: Chief medical officer reveals UK coronavirus sufferers are on average infecting less than one person in crucial milestone towards lifting lockdown
Professor Chris Whitty has offered a chink of light out of the lockdown after revealing coronavirus infection rates have been wrestled down.
England's chief medical officer said the reproduction number - or R0 - has been brought below 1, marking a critical achievement in the UK's war on Covid-19.
It means coronavirus sufferers are on average infecting less than one person, meaning the disease will wind up as it can no longer spread.
Prof Whitty, who is part of the core team steering the government's response and has become a staple in the briefings, suggested an easing of restrictions could happen relatively soon.
Speaking to MPs on the Science and Technology Select Committee, Prof Whitty said: 'The R that we have at the moment is somewhere between 0.5 and 1.
'Let's say for the sake of argument it is in the middle of that range, which I think is likely, that does give a little bit of scope for manoeuvre and ticking some things off while still keeping it below 1.
'But there are lots of ifs, buts and ands to that.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday warned the government would not ease lockdown restrictions until ministers were certain they could prevent a deadly second wave of infection.
He said this would not be possible until the number of cases was driven 'right down'. Mr Hancock said he understood the 'economic pressures' the lockdown was causing, but warned they would be even worse if the UK suffered a second peak of the epidemic.
He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: 'I understand those voices who are saying we should move sooner but that is not something we are going to do.'
Mr Hancock said the lockdown could not be eased until ministers have the preliminary results of an Office for National Statistics study looking at how widespread the disease is in society.
Downing Street said it was 'conceivable' this could be ready ahead of the May 7 review of the lockdown.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith yesterday said it was time for the government to 'bite the bullet' on the issue and set out a plan for easing the lockdown.
'The UK government now needs to recognise that the time is now,' he said.
Privately ministers are gloomy about the prospect of any significant easing of the lockdown on May 7, given the need to meet five tests that include a major reduction in the number of cases and security of supply of personal protective equipment.
One insider said: 'I don't think anyone thinks we are going to pass the five tests in the next week or two.'
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she is considering relaxing the lockdown rules.
She said: 'I know from my own parents who are not seeing their grandkids just know, I understand the anguish of that.
'We're all missing seeing our loved ones so we all want to get beyond that as quickly as possible.
'Every country is going through these decisions, none of us are through this pandemic yet, but some countries are starting to look at slightly expanding what people would define as their household - encouraging people who live alone to maybe match up with somebody else who is on their own or a couple of other people to have almost kind of bubbles of people.'
She added: 'And the key thing there is, if you're seeing maybe one or two more people outside your household, it's got to be the same people on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis so you're still limiting the ability for the virus to transmit.
'Now, none of these are fixed decisions yet, but these are all the kind of things we're trying to work through.
'What we're trying to do is to do is, how do we get a semblance of normality back into our lives because the lockdown - it is essential that people stick with it just now - but it's having consequences of its own.'
It comes as Priti Patel is today set to scold the rule-breakers ignoring the coronavirus lockdown after scenes of crowds pouring into public places sent alarm bells ringing through government.
The Home Secretary will underscore her warning to stay indoors with the threat of beefing up the police's powers to enforce social distancing.
Unseasonably warm weather has caused many Britons to defy ministers' instructions and head to parks, beaches and shopping centres in their droves.
A steady increase of traffic on the roads has also added to the growing unease in Downing Street that the country is becoming restless under the restrictions to everyday life.
Police chiefs have repeatedly begged the nation to obey the rules, while one force yesterday branded those flouting the lockdown as 'selfish'.
However their message has been undermined by their own officers failing to observe social distancing during Thursday's clap for carers on Westminster Bridge.
Mr Patel will this afternoon use the daily Downing Street press briefing to impress upon the public the seriousness of following the rules.
A source close to the Home Secretary told the Daily Express: 'We are seeing a worrying increase in people moving around.
'Some industries which we did not advise to close are reopening, and we welcome that provided the social distancing rules are observed.
'The vast majority of the public are still doing the right thing. However, transport use has ticked up in a way that suggests something more is going on and that has set off alarm bells.'
Ministers have come under pressure to publish a road map out of the lockdown, but have so far remained tight-lipped.
The lack of information from Whitehall has jarred with the approach taken in Scotland by Nicola Sturgeon, who published a plan to ease restrictions after promising to treat the public 'like grown ups'.
At yesterday's Downing Street press conference, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps praised the British people for largely following the rules.
He said: 'The country has done incredibly well in adhering to social distancing and there is a danger as we go into yet another warm sunny weekend that people think that perhaps these graphs are showing that the peak is over.
'It isn't over, we're riding perhaps, we hope, a downward trend but it is by no means, no means established yet. When people ask me when will the measures, the social distancing, the stay at home measures, be altered, my answer in some ways is that some of this lies in your own hands.
'The more we adhere to it and are strict about the social distancing that is required, the faster that decision will be able to be made. But that decision will, of course, be made entirely on the advice of science and medical advice.'
Yet when the lockdown will end is still a focal point in the national conversation, and McDonald's yesterday mooted re-opening.
The fast food giant, which is already operation again in coronavirus-stricken France, is in talks about opening its 1,249 restaurants across the UK, according to reports.
The burger chain could open for drive-thru and delivery orders as early as mid-May, say the Irish Farmers Journal.
A spokesperson for McDonald's said: 'Of course we are thinking about re-opening and having those conversations – but it's unclear when that will be.'
It comes as figures reveal how Britain's roads are becoming increasingly busy.
Data from sat nav makers TomTom shows how evening rush hour traffic in London reached 19 per cent for the last two days - the highest level it has been on a weekday since the lockdown came in.
Meanwhile, people have been pictured packed into busy open-air food markets and parks in London.
Brits enjoyed the warm weather yesterday at London Fields, pictured, despite continued government guidance to stay at home
A woman wearing a face mask, pictured, cycles past Broadway Market in east London on Friday
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