Guidance on close contact with friends and family has been relaxed, but some social distancing measures remain.

There are no special rules for people who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine – about half the UK’s adult population.

Why do I still need to socially distance if I’ve been vaccinated?

While your chances of becoming sick with Covid are massively reduced after both jabs. there are other factors:

• It’s not yet known how well vaccines prevent you from spreading Covid-19 to others (although early data is encouraging)
• It’s not known how long the vaccines protect people
• Scientists are still learning how many people have to be vaccinated before the population can be considered protected
• It’s still not known how effective the vaccines are against new variants (although signs are encouraging)

What’s the latest guidance?

You can choose whether or not to be socially distanced from family and friends you don’t live with, in England

The government says it wants to let people exercise “personal judgement” on close contact with others.  So if you want to hug each other, you can.

However, everyone is asked to remain cautious and remember some people are more vulnerable to Covid than others.

Coronavirus spreads mainly when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks – sending small droplets, packed with the virus, into the air. The further apart people are, the lower the risk of them being infected.