UK announces small step out of lockdown

LONDON (AP) - The British government has announced a small step out of lockdown, allowing nursing home residents to have a single friend or family member visit them indoors.

Residents and their visitors will be able to hold hands, but not hug.

The change takes effect March 8.

For months, nursing home residents have only been able to see loved ones outdoors or through screens.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will announce a “road map” out of lockdown on Monday.

The government has stressed that reopening will be slow and cautious, with store reopenings or outdoor socialising unlikely before April, though children will go back to school from March 8.

Johnson’s Conservative government has been accused of reopening the country too quickly after the first lockdown in the spring.

Britain has had about 120,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe.

The new measures apply in England.

In other parts of the U.K., nursing home visiting rules vary, with Scottish residents able to have two visitors from March 8.

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