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Options for increasing adherence to social distancing measures, 22 March 2020

Paper prepared for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

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Options for increasing adherence to social distancing measures - 22 March 2020

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This paper addresses the 2 social distancing measures which were seen as most important to the UK response to the COVID-19 outbreak at the time:

  • general social distancing by everyone
  • shielding for vulnerable people for at least 12 weeks

It provides advice on how best to implement these measures and enable adherence.

The paper was discussed at SAGE meeting 18 on 23 March 2020.

This evidence was often compiled very rapidly during a fast-moving response and should be viewed in this context. The paper presented here is the best assessment of the evidence at the time of writing, and the conclusions were formed on this basis. As new evidence or data emerges, SAGE updates its advice accordingly. Therefore, some of the information in this paper may have been superseded at a later date.

Published 5 May 2020
Last updated 26 October 2021 + show all updates
  1. Added HTML for accessibility.

  2. First published.