Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford forced to explain why they're sat next to each other on This Morning

Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield sat two metres apart while presenting this week  
Kimberley Bond27 March 2020

Fans were left baffled watching This Morning today when hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford were sat closely together.

The pair, who usually host This Morning on a Friday, were not sat the required two metres apart as they opened the show.

Other live TV presenters have been keeping the required two metres apart to practise social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.

However, there was a perfectly simple explanation for the pair’s closeness – the pair are married and live in the same household.

The married couple do not need to sit two metres apart
REX

Responding to concerned fans, Holmes, 60 said: “We are intimate, so we are allowed to sit.”

Langsford, also 60, giggled: “Occasionally! We’re the same household, I don’t know how intimate it gets. But we are blooming married!

“Just in case you’re new to This Morning, we are married, don’t panic, we don’t have to self-isolate as we’ve been this close to one another for years and years.”

Social distancing is a measure to try and limit the spread of coronavirus.

The couple were presenting live on-air when it was announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been tested positive for coronavirus.

Johnson is not the only member of the British cabinet to test positive for Covid-19, with Health secretary Matt Hancock also experiencing mild symptoms of the disease.

The news comes after it was confirmed that Prince Charles had tested positive for Covid-19, and was now having to self-isolate in Scotland on the Balmoral estate.

There are currently 11, 658 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, with 578 deaths from the disease.

This Morning continues weekdays from 10am on ITV

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