Stay at home for THREE days, not five if you’ve got Covid, school pupils are told
Pupils with Covid are told to stay at home for THREE days not five: New guidance advises students to cut length of isolation so they don’t miss time in the classroom
School pupils with Covid should now stay at home for three days instead of five Department for Education updated its guidance ‘Living with Covid’ yesterday‘We now know that Covid presents a low risk of serious illness to most children’Staff and pupils are expected to test themselves as routine testing ceases
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Children who test positive for Covid should self-isolate at home for three days instead of five, according to updated guidance.
The latest rule change comes amid concerns that pupils are missing too much school time as a result of Covid.
The Department for Education’s ‘Living With Covid’ guidance stated yesterday that under-18s should remain at home for three days ‘to balance the risk of transmission with continued disruption to education’, The Telegraph reports.
The guidance stated: ‘Following expert advice, we now know that Covid presents a low risk of serious illness to most children and young people, and most of those who are fully vaccinated.
‘Due to high immunity in society, a greater understanding of the virus and improved access to treatments, we can now focus on how we live with Covid.’
School pupils who test positive for Covid should now self-isolate at home for three days instead of five, according to the Department for Education
Adults with Covid remain advised to self-isolate for five days, due to greater transmissibility, although this is not a legal requirement.
A UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) spokesman said: ‘There is some evidence that children have a shorter duration of illness compared to adults.
‘And this guidance balances the risk of transmission with continued disruption to education.’
From today, routine testing will no longer be expected in all education and children’s social care settings.
This is part of the government’s plan to remove remaining restrictions on society while ‘protecting the most vulnerable’ from Covid.
Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of the UKHSA, said: ‘As we learn to live with Covid, we are focusing our testing provision on those at higher risk of serious outcomes from the virus, while encouraging people to keep following simple steps to help keep themselves and others safe.’
Despite the non-requirement for testing in all schools, the DfE stated it expects pupils and staff in education settings to routinely test themselves for Covid.
Outbreak testing will be available for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and the staff working with them, where advised by the local health protection team.
This is to counteract the risk of closure due to staff absence.
Free Covid tests officially ended for millions of people today as England ushered in the next stage of the post-pandemic era.
The Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was now right to ‘focus resources’ on those people who still most needed testing, including hospital patients and those at a high risk of severe Covid.
Most people will now need to shop on the high street for paid-for tests — available for £2 per swab.
Mr Javid said: ‘We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and that’s because of decisions that we’ve taken as a country…
‘And it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing – universally… if it’s not needed any more, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most.
‘And that’s what we’re doing.’
The Government did not publish the exact reasoning or evidence for the change.
However, Oxford University research published in August last year found 98 per cent of virus transmission occurs within the first five days of symptoms.
Infected persons were found to be most infectious just before and after their symptoms, with levels gradually receding.
Virus transmission was found to drop off almost entirely after day five.
This research prompted experts and commentators to call for a slashing of then seven day Covid isolation period which crippled the country at the end of last year.
It followed on from University of St Andrews’ researchers who found in November 2020 that the vast majority of Covid transmission happens during the first few days that someone is ill.
Another UK study, published in August last year in the The Lancet of over 250,000 British children found the median length of Covid illness in under-18s was six days.
However, this is not reflective of how long children are infectious for.
Professor Ian Jones, a virologist from the University of Reading, said the move was ‘policy, not science’.
He told MailOnline: ‘Most people infected are likely to be able to transmit virus from a day or so before symptoms to a day or two after symptoms.
‘It’s true that children have less symptoms generally and may show them for a shorter time but that does not necessarily mean they are less able to transmit virus as any reduction in virus load can be offset by behaviour.
‘Every parent of school age kids knows that once a virus is brought into the house others will get it however careful they are to avoid it.’
