UK: Government has “no current plans” to cut Covid isolation period

UK: Government has “no current plans” to cut Covid isolation period.

A TORY minister has said the UK government has “no current plans” to cut the current Covid isolation period. Pressure has been mounting on the government to follow countries like the US who have slashed their isolation protocol in half.

Minister for disabled people, Chloe Smith, rejected calls to cut the Covid isolation period to five days in England. Currently, the UK requires a period of 10 days for people who test positive – or seven, if they get a negative lateral flow test on days six and seven.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Wednesday, December 29, she said: “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.”

In the US, infected people can now leave home after five days providing they have no symptoms, however, they must wear a mask around people for another five days.

Shooting down the idea last night (December 28), a government spokesperson said the current isolation period was “critical for limiting the spread of the virus”.

“There are no further changes to the isolation period planned at this time, but we keep all rules under review based on the latest health data,” they stated.

At this time last week (December 22), the UK government changed the way that self-isolation testing works. Vaccinated people who can show a negative lateral flow test result on days six and seven, do not need to complete the previous full ten days quarantine.

The UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid said at the time: “We want to reduce the disruption from Covid-19 to people’s everyday lives. Following advice from our clinical experts, we are reducing the self-isolation period from 10 days to seven, if you test negative on a lateral flow test for two days running”.

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