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Keep your distance

Tim Harford explores how can we avoid the coronavirus infection spreading, while getting on with life.

What difference does a metre make? The World Health Organisation recommends that people keep at least 1 metre apart from each other to stop the spread of Covid-19, but different countries have adopted different standards.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends staying six feet apart - that鈥檚 just short of 2 metres; in the UK, the rule is 2 metres.

But all this has a big impact on the way businesses and societies get back to work. Tim Harford investigates the economic costs and conundrums of keeping our distance in a post-lockdown world.

How can we avoid infection spreading again, while getting on with life?

Producer: Ruth Alexander

(A cyclist rides along Oxford Street in London where barriers have been installed to widen the pavement to enable social distancing due to COVID-19, June 2020. Credit: Tolga Akmen/Getty images)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 8 Jun 2020 15:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 Jun 2020 17:50GMT
  • Sun 7 Jun 2020 05:50GMT
  • Mon 8 Jun 2020 08:50GMT
  • Mon 8 Jun 2020 12:50GMT
  • Mon 8 Jun 2020 15:50GMT

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