Hugging has slumped under Covid, anxious Britons tell pollsters

Survey also finds a third think the pandemic will never be over, as ONS records highest anxiety in 11 months

People are less likely to shake hands and hug people they do not live with than they were before the pandemic, a poll suggests, while separate research indicates that anxiety levels have increased markedly in the run-up to this Christmas.

Data collected by YouGov and the PA news agency suggests that nearly two-thirds of people shake hands less now than they did before Covid-19 and more than half have cut down on hugging people they do not live with.