No10 rules out cutting Covid self-isolation to FIVE days

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Ministers today revealed there are no plans to cut the Covid self-isolation period to just five days, despite fears that crippling staff shortages will threaten the NHS and other vital parts of the economy.

Scientists, MPs and business leaders have lined up to urge Boris Johnson to follow the US’ example by once again reducing the time spent in quarantine.

But the Government has said there are ‘no further changes’ planned. Chloe Smith, minister for disabled people, health and work, said the current seven-day isolation span was the ‘right’ length of time. 

No10 only last week slashed the quarantine period in England from ten days to seven for those who test negative two days in a row. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to make any changes.  

But late on Monday, American health officials announced they would cut their isolation time for positive cases to just five days – provided people were showing no symptoms, piling pressure on the UK to follow suit.

Sir John Bell, a world-leading immunologist and former Government adviser, yesterday revealed he would back a similar move in the UK, as long as people still recorded negative lateral flow results. Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, went further, calling for strict isolation rules to be scrapped altogether ‘sooner rather than later’.

Kate Nicholls, from trade body UK Hospitality, said: ‘Dropping isolation requirements from ten to seven days… has already reduced staff absences in the food supply chain. We would urge them to review and act on the latest CDC data to keep the economy moving, address staff concerns in education and health and avoid punitive restrictions and lockdown.’

Former Tory minister Theresa Villiers said: ‘The Government should look seriously at reducing mandatory isolation periods.’

Meanwhile, it also emerged today that Test & Trace is still telling people to quarantine for 10 full days despite the updated advice. Up to 800,000 people are thought to currently be in isolation.

David Jones, a former Tory minister, told the Telegraph: ‘This seems a clear case of officials trying to undermine decisions made by democratically accountable ministers.

‘The rule changes were made after full consideration of the relevant evidence. Officials now have a responsibility to implement those changes, not ignore them. They must get out of the ‘Whitehall knows best’ mentality.’

William Wragg, the Tory chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, which oversees the work of the Civil Service, said: ‘The UK Health Security Agency does not govern the country and as such should follow the instructions given to it by ministers. 

‘The policy on test and release has been updated and should be communicated to the public properly.’ 

Asked about whether the Government would slash the Covid self-isolation period even further, Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast: ‘There are no current plans in England to change that period.

‘Of course, we have actually only recently taken it down from 10 to seven, and we want to look at that – we want to make sure that that is working as we believe it ought to. We think the current period, therefore, is the right one, so we haven’t any plans to change that further.’

And a Government spokesperson said last night that the rules are kept ‘under review’, based on the latest data.

American officials on Monday scrapped an order requiring the infected to self-isolate for 10 days. Instead, they can leave home at the half-way point, as long as they have no symptoms and can wear a mask around people for another five days.

Bosses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) insisted the decision was ‘motivated by science’ and to keep ‘society functioning’.   

Leading experts immediately called for UK to follow suit especially in the face of Omicron, which has wreaked havoc on businesses throughout Christmas by forcing hundreds of thousands to stay at home. 

Professor Hunter said No10 will have to relax the rules entirely at some point, arguing it may need to happen ‘sooner rather than later’. He suggested rules could be scaled back ‘once we’re past Easter’.

But he admitted it would be premature to drop the quarantine rules right now because the virus is still causing severe disease.

He said the topic would have to be discussed ‘fairly soon’ because the virus will eventually be regarded as a cause of the common cold and won’t warrant the reporting of daily case numbers.

But shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the Government should avoid ‘rushing into’ cutting Covid isolation times.

Asked about calls for the isolation period to be reduced to five days, he told Sky News: ‘I think we should always follow the advice of our leading scientists, medical scientists like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, and I don’t think they’ve given an opinion on this.’

He added: ‘Let’s see what they say on this before rushing into this.’

Mr Ashworth said politicians ‘should always be careful to listen to scientific experts’.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said ‘staff absence is a huge issue for the NHS right now’ on top of about 100,000 vacancies that already existed.

Asked if the self-isolation period for Covid should be cut to five days to free up more staff, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The Government, with scientific advice, has to make an assessment of the balance of risk here.

‘But it’s important to recognise that there are risks to anything that we do, and if we were to reduce to five days that would have to be based on very clear evidence that is not going to increase the rate of infection.’

He suggested the evidence was not yet there, adding that Omicron was a new variant and there had been a rise in hospital admissions.

US health officials yesterday cut isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.

CDC officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the virus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.

The decision also was driven by a recent surge in Covid infections, propelled by the Omicron variant.

Early research suggests omicron may cause milder illnesses than earlier versions of the coronavirus. 

But the sheer number of people becoming infected, and therefore having to isolate, threatens to crush the ability of hospitals, airlines and other businesses to stay open, experts say.

The CDC’s director Rochelle Walensky last night warned the country is about to see a lot of Omicron cases.

She said: ‘Not all of those cases are going to be severe. In fact many are going to be asymptomatic.

‘We want to make sure there is a mechanism by which we can safely continue to keep society functioning while following the science.’

People with symptoms during isolation, or who develop symptoms during their time quarantining, should still stay at home, the CDC said.

Last week, the agency loosened rules that previously called on health care workers to stay out of work for 10 days if they test positive.

The new recommendations said workers could go back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms.

And the agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages.