There is no set limit on how long people are allowed out of their homes for exercise, but residents should be sensible.

That is the message from today’s government press conference on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Social media posts from the Isle of Man Constabulary had suggested that people should exercise for an hour a day.

Following reports of one resident going on a cycle ride for several hours, the police were asked for clarity over how long people can exercise for, TweetbeatIOM responded that the force was ’taking view that an hour seems sensible? Any thoughts’?

When a resident asked for clarity on if the one hour suggestion was actually a rule, the police added: ’Ok it doesn’t say but longer than an hour seems to be pushing the principle.’

Minister for Health and Social Care David Ashford, speaking today, said that while there is no limit of how long people can exercise for, people should ’be sensible’ about how long they are out for.

He also supported the police in stopping residents to enquire as to where they were going and for what purpose.

Mr Ashford said: ’The police aren’t exceeding their powers, they are quite entitled to stop people and ask what they’re doing and where they’re going, that is a perfectly legitimate thing for the police to be doing.

’And, it is important that people recognise that the police are there to assist us at this time.

’In terms of the exercise, people should be going out for one form of exercise. The Chief Minister made clear in his speech last week, it’s all about common sense.

’For instance, someone going for a walk in a glen, that isn’t too busy, is perfectly fine, but they shouldn’t be going into areas that are crowded.’

Last week Chief Minister Howard Quayle said he’d been told about people who had gone to glen, seen it was busy so went elsewhere.

In another social media post, the police advised that people should try to avoid travelling too far to do their exercise and it would be better to stay within walking distance of your home.

However, Mr Ashford said: ’The simple answer is a common sense approach. So people, if they are going out to deserted areas, they can keep the social distancing, that is absolutely fine, and that is the message that government has put out all along.

’What isn’t fine, is if people are treating it like a family day out, or a day out for them, going for six, seven hour treks, it’s about common sense at the end of the day.

’And where you’ve got built up areas, for example I represent Douglas North as a constituency MHK, you’d basically just be trawling the streets, people may wish to go somewhere quieter, that is absolutely fine.

’But it is perfectly legitimate for the police to stop and ask people what they’re doing.’

In response to a later question about if people should be restricted to how long they can exercise, Mr Ashford said ’I don’t think time limits work very well’.

He added: ’If people are going for a cycle ride each day, that is fine, but what you don’t particularly want is people riding round and round the island and treating it as a day out, that’s not the purpose of it.

’So to be perfectly honest, with a lot of these rules, they are there for common sense purpose, I think once you start getting too prescriptive, you start getting into the nanny state sort of stuff.’