PEOPLE in Wales can "interact" with another person who is not from their household while exercising if they come across them in a park or public space, the Welsh Government has said.

First Minister Mark Drakeford today said that it has always “been the case” that you can have "contact" with another person from a different household while outside, so long as you observe the two-metre social distancing rule.

But a spokesperson for the Welsh Government clarified that you cannot arrange to meet someone before taking your exercise.

At the daily government press conference, Mr Drakeford said: “It has been the case throughout coronavirus in Wales that if you and an individual are out walking or taking exercise you can, at a social distance, have contact with one other person.

“We have always said that two people are able to interact with one another in that way.”

The First Minister added: “The rules in Wales are that two people can meet, provided they observe social distancing.

“So, if one person from a household is going out and meeting another member of their family and observing that social distancing, then under our rules, that would be permitted."

"Meeting" in this sense is not to be taken as arranging to take exercise together, the Welsh Government said.

You may have "contact" with another person that you know if you come across them in a local park, for instance, by accident and not design.

However, a gathering of more than two people would breach lockdown rules.

“You can’t go above two - once you go above two, in our definition it becomes a gathering and gatherings are not allowed,” he said.

Any exercise must still be undertaken “locally” and driving to a location to meet with another person is still not allowed.

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The First Minister’s comments come as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab this morning told the BBC that in England you can now meet up with other people.

He said: “If you’re out in the park and you’re two metres apart, we’re saying now, (if you) use some common sense and you socially distance, you can meet up with other people.”

But Mr Drakeford questioned whether this was a “real change” as this has been “possible in Wales all along”.

“And if you did as I did over this weekend and go on my bicycle to my allotment through one of the major fields in Cardiff then you see people doing that tall the time, so I am not absolutely certain that I am sure whether what is being proposed in England is a real change or whether it is just simply restating what in that sense has been possible in Wales all along.”