HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock has been filmed slapping a colleage on the back in Parliament, despite social distancing measures in place to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The incident happened as the Health Secretary arrived at Prime Minister's Questions.

A third MP then comes and stands beside both of them, before the man in the middle steps back.

Hancock then steps across to fill the gap to speak to the third MP, before moving back again.

At the daily coronavirus briefings Hancock and other ministers have repeatedly spoken of the importance of keeping two metres apart.

He described the error as a "human mistake", adding: "Like all of us, I instinctively wanted to reach out to a friend I'd just seen - in this case, for the first time in many weeks. I realised my mistake and corrected myself."

He said it shows the difficulty of social distancing but stressed it is "so important that we all keep trying to do our bit".

Watch the full video below.