Coronavirus: 'When will I be able to hug my grandchildren?'

Matt Hancock said questions from the public were just as important as those from journalists

The first member of the public to ask a question at a coronavirus briefing wanted to know about hugging close family when lockdown is relaxed.

Lynne in Skipton, North Yorkshire, said she missed her grandchildren and wanted to know whether allowing family to hug would be one of the first steps.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the question "brought home the emotional impact of lockdown".

He said he hoped it would be allowed "as soon as possible".

But Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical adviser, warned that for some vulnerable groups close contact with family may continue to be a risk for some time.

He said those groups would include people with "significant medical conditions" who were currently "shielding" and older people.

"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 said.

He said he "fully accepts" the importance of getting together with family. But he added: "Nevertheless it is important that people who are vulnerable continue to be protected even after whatever the next steps are."

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The question from Lynne, whose surname was not given, was read by Mr Hancock, who said he had not seen it in advance.

The process of choosing it was managed independently by pollster YouGov.

Lynne said: "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?"

Mr Hancock said: "We understand the impact of not being able to hug your closest family. It affects us all too.

"We just hope we can get back to that as soon as possible. The best way we can get there, the fastest way, is for people to follow the rules."

Lockdown 'bearing fruit'

Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said: "We all know how hard this is. My own mother lives hundreds of miles away and I know she's wondering when she will be able to see me and her grandchildren again."

But he said the lockdown measures are "bearing fruit", reducing hospital admissions and deaths, which themselves have "touched so many people in terms of loved ones".

The question was chosen as one of 15,000 submitted online via the government's website under a new plan to give the public the chance to put their questions to ministers and experts.

Anyone over 18 can send in a question and one will be selected by opinion pollsters by 15:00 BST.

The decision to allow questions from the public came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to address criticisms that the government had failed to set out how it was making crucial decisions about the introduction of social distancing rules and how they would be lifted.

He said future decisions about the nation's response to the virus would be taken with "maximum possible transparency".

After the responses, Mr Hancock said he hoped the exercise had shown "questions from the public can be just as important and just as difficult to answer as questions from journalists who are trained to ask them".