BORIS Johnson has announced that from Saturday, single adult households in England will be able to form a 'support bubble' with another household.

This includes adults living alone or single parents living with children under the age of 18.

This weekend, they will be able to form a 'bubble' with one other household which means they will effectively be treated as a single household for the purpose of the lockdown rules. 

They will not have to observe the two-metre social distancing rule, so can visit each other in their homes and even stay overnight.

The news will be particulary welcome to elderly people living alone, single parents and couples who do not live together.

However, households which both have more than one adult living there will still have to comply with social distancing measures, and there must be no switching of those in the 'bubble'.

Members of both households in the bubble must self-isolate for 14 days if anyone has coronavirus symptoms.

Boris Johnson told the Downing Street briefing this evening, Wednesday: “We are making this change to support those who are particularly lonely as a result of lockdown measures.

“It is a targeted intervention to limit the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions.

“It is emphatically not designed for people who don’t qualify to start meeting inside other people’s homes because that remains against the law.”

Officials say it is too soon for people who are shielding to be able to join support bubbles.