Community spirit created by the first coronavirus lockdown is at ‘huge risk’ of being lost, according to a new survey.

The study from think tank Demos - which interviewed 1,000 adults across the UK in May - also found that a quarter of adults have not experienced a hug for more than a year.

Meanwhile 64 per cent of people said they have not made a new friend for six months, and 44 percent haven’t done so in a year.

Chief executive at Demos, Polly MacKenzie said: “Our new research out today worryingly shows that these gains we’ve made in community relationships earlier in the pandemic are in danger of being lost.

“If we’re to build back stronger from the pandemic, we need to reimagine our public services for the 21st century as a way of strengthening our communities, relationships and social capital.”

READ MORE: Scotland records 56 Covid deaths with majority aged under 65

With restrictions gradually being eased over the last few months the research sponsored by Capita set out to investigate how people have been interacting through the pandemic.

Research stated that ‘community spirit prompted by the crisis, which saw volunteers, friends and family provide food and support to vulnerable members’ could disappear as lockdown eases.

However, despite this, the research also shows that the desire to know people in a community has not dissipated. The think tank showed that 71 per cent of people in the UK want to get to know people who provide local services, and 64 per cent of people also want to know the community members who use the local services.