Boris Johnson has announced that single adult households in the UK will be able to merge with one other household to form a 'support bubble' - a move that appears to be taken directly "from Jacinda Ardern's playbook", according to Europe correspondent Lloyd Burr.
As of June 13, Britons living alone will be permitted to form a bubble - a concept New Zealanders know all too well - with one other household following weeks of lockdown. Once the bubbles have been merged, social distancing measures are no longer required.
"There are too many people, particularly those who live by themselves, who are lonely and struggling with being unable to see friends and family. From this weekend, we will allow single adult households - adults living alone or single parents with children under 18 - to form a support bubble with one other household," the UK Prime Minister announced during a press conference on Wednesday (local time).
"All those in a support bubble will be able to act as if they live in the same household, meaning they can spend time together in each other's homes and do not need to stay two metres apart."
The support bubbles must remain exclusive, he noted, meaning Britons are not able to merge multiple households or switch their support bubble buddy for another. If anyone becomes symptomatic, all members of the bubble will be required to isolate.
Johnson described the support bubble as a "targeted intervention" designed to limit "the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions", amid global concerns regarding the impacts of lockdown measures on mental health.
However, the support bubble is not an excuse for "people who don't qualify to start meeting inside other people's homes", Johnson reiterated, "because that remains against the law".
Speaking to The AM Show on Thursday morning (NZ time), Newshub's Europe correspondent Lloyd Burr said 'the bubble' has been a foreign concept to Britons up until Wednesday's announcement.
"I've talked to people about bubbles in the last couple of months and they've always looked at me, really confused, about what on earth a 'household bubble' is, merging different bubbles - what this concept of 'bubbling' is," Burr told host Duncan Garner.
"New Zealanders know about it, it's part of the vernacular in New Zealand now. I've been having some weird looks talking about bubbles for the last two months.
"[But] today Boris Johnson launched 'the bubble'... and I'm sure it's straight out of the Jacinda Ardern playbook."
The bubble concept was introduced in New Zealand early on in the COVID-19 response to ensure social distancing was adhered to.
Following the implementation of the nationwide, alert level 4 lockdown at 11:59pm on March 25, New Zealanders were required to remain in a bubble with the people they officially entered lockdown with - whether it be family, flatmates or a partner. Under alert level 3, which came into play as of April 27, bubbles were permitted to be slightly extended to include close family, isolated individuals or caregivers.
If a person began displaying symptoms of the virus, everyone within the bubble was required to get a test and self-isolate within the household.
The UK, which has grappled for months to contain its rampant COVID-19 outbreak, is finally beginning to stabilise. With more than 291,580 confirmed cases and 41,213 virus-related deaths recorded, the UK is one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, following the US, Brazil and Russia respectively.
According to Johns Hopkins University's live COVID-19 case tracker, roughly 249,110 cases in the UK are still considered to be active.
