A magic moment: Families embrace for the first time in months
Families across the South East are hugging for the first time in months as coronavirus restrictions ease further.
Under new rules, close family and friends are permitted to hug, but the government urges caution.
At one care home in Gravesham, The Hevercourt, a visitor can hug their loved one after both undergoing coronavirus tests.
For Tony Salerno, it as been more than a year since he has been able to hug his 90-year- old mother.
Tony said: "I come to see her once every three or four days. She [his mother] said she didn't realise we could actually hug each other. She said she was looking forward to it."
In Alton in Hampshire, Mel and his wife Jackie felt the embrace of their grandchildren for the first time since March 2020.
They have both now been fully vaccinated and said they were looking forward to giving their grandchildren a cuddle.
Today (17 May) is Jackie's 68th birthday, and she was treated to a visit by her children and her three grandchildren.
The couple say the past year has been 'horrendous' for the whole family.
Mel says: "Just seeing them through the window, or by the garden fence, and only seeing them at the door with shopping and that, and not being able to give them a hug; it's been horrendous."
They say the moment they could finally hug their family after so long was an emotional one.
"We both had tears. Seeing them and hugging them for the first time...well my knees are shaking now at the thought of it still!
"It's been absolutely lovely - we're over the moon - we couldn't have wished for a better time!"
Watch: The moment the family were reunited
What are the risks?
Covid loves a hug as much as the rest of us do, the virus flourishes through human contact. This is why we have been forced to stand two-metres from people we know and like (and those we don't) for over a year.
Despite a successful vaccination programme, falling cases, hospitalisations and deaths, the pandemic continues.
Hugs, therefore, will not be risk-free until when, and if, Covid's prevalence shrinks. Prof Paul Hunter, professor in Medicine at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, tells ITV News his view is, "if you don’t need to hug each other, then don’t".
Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Catherine Noakes, a member of the Sage committee that advises the government, told ITV News: "We have to remember that this virus hasn't gone away. While the cases are about where we were in September last year, we you know we know what happened in autumn."
But she goes on to say: "I think people have been vaccinated and nobody's got symptoms, I think it's relatively low risk, hugging somebody who you know, your nearest and dearest."
Prof Noakes warned that the risk comes not just with hugging, but the setting.
"A very brief hug is probably really quite low risk but if the hug is then the precursor to you spending the whole afternoon in the same small space as each other, then that's probably where you're adding in your risks," she says.