The government will "bring forward proposals" on how to safely reduce the 2m social distancing rule in England this week, says Matt Hancock.
The health secretary said the distance could be lowered with "mitigations" to cut the risk of transmission.
Labour said it would support a change to 1m "under certain circumstances".
Mr Hancock confirmed new easing of lockdown measures would be announced in the coming days, including whether pubs and restaurants can re-open on 4 July.
Boris Johnson said the government was "sticking like glue" to
the roadmap it announced in May - when it said the venues could re-open on 4 July "at the earliest".
He added: "We are going step-by-step, making things easier for people, helping people to see more of each other, allowing more social contact, more social interaction, and we will be setting all that out.
"But it's very important that we don't lose our vice like grip on the disease. We have got to keep it on the floor where we have got it and so we have got to keep making those trade-offs."