Dr Hilary has issued a health warning to those wishing to hug their friends and relatives once again as England moves to level three of the government's roadmap to recovery from Covid-19.
You can find out about what changes have been made today in the video below.
Hilary, who has previously said hugging could be a risk, warned those who still wish to do it to stay silent while they do and to wear a mask to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today he demonstrated a technique for hugging your loved ones in the safest possible way, should you feel like you want to.
Of course, the safest way remains not to hug at all, but the government has said it wants people to make their own 'informed decision' about whether to proceed.
That includes whether the people have been vaccinated and whether that vaccination has had time to take effect.
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Dr Hilary said that keeping your head turned away from the person you've decided to hug is the first thing to remember.
Minimising face to face contact seems sensible enough.
He also said that you need to be 'selective' about who you want to actually physically touch.
That's a decent bit of advice with or without a pandemic.
Speaking to hosts Susanna Reid and Adil Ray, he explained: "Everyone is desperate to hug, I think it's important to be selective, not to hug all and sundry but to hug people most close to you, that you have been really keen to hug.
"It's important to ask them, have they got any symptoms? Have they been exposed to anyone else in recent time? Have they been vaccinated?"
When Susanna joked that people should ask their nearest and dearest to 'do a health questionnaire' before getting hugged, Hilary rightly pointed out that 'lots of people still don't want hugs'.
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He added: "Ask them if they want to hug, get consent first, and then by all means hug."
Outlining three simple steps to make your hugs safe, he added 'I would still wear a mask, I would turn your head away and not talk to them whilst you're hugging them, because it's aerosol contact'.
He continued: "It's inhaling aerosol droplets from someone with the virus that's almost guaranteed to transmit the virus.
"So if it's someone you haven't seen for a while and you don't know how they have been behaving, and if they have been socially responsible."
Sound advice, and something to bear in mind before you go all-in hugging people.
Good Morning Britain airs on weekday mornings from 6.00am on ITV.
Featured Image Credit: ITVTopics: Science, UK News, TV and Film, Good Morning Britain, England, UK Entertainment, Health, Covid-19
