Self-isolation period to be cut from two weeks to 10 DAYS for at-risk contacts of coronavirus cases across the entire UK as Government shortens stay-at-home orders ahead of Christmas
- People in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland currently face two-week wait
- Wales yesterday reduced time limit to 10 days with newer scientific evidence
- The rest of the UK will follow suit from Monday next week in new move
People forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone infected with coronavirus will only have to do so for 10 days instead of a fortnight in the UK.
The Department of Health confirmed today that the changed policy will come into force next Monday, December 14.
It means that anyone contacted by NHS Test & Trace before next Tuesday, December 15, could still be allowed to meet up with others on Christmas Day.
The UK-wide move will follow in the footsteps of Wales, which officially made the change yesterday.
People are told to self-isolate after being close to someone who later tests positive for coronavirus in order to stop them spreading the disease if they caught it.
Many people transmit the virus to others without developing symptoms, or before they get ill, meaning self-isolation even for people who feel healthy is vital to stopping the virus in its tracks.
Two weeks has been the required length of isolation throughout the outbreak because almost nobody would still be infectious two weeks after catching the virus.
The UK’s chief medical officers, however, said the science was strong enough to allow the period to be shortened, with the likelihood of people still being infectious after 10 days as low as one or two in 100.
People who come into close contact with others who later test positive for coronavirus will no longer have to isolate for two weeks but for 10 days instead, reports suggest (Pictured: Commuters on the London Underground yesterday morning)
In a statement published on Wednesday, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething said that all four medical officers across the UK had made the decision.
But nothing has been officially announced for any other country so far.
Mr Gething said: ‘These regulations have been made as soon as practicable following public health advice, agreed by the UK’s four CMOs, that showed little absolute risk, in reducing the period of isolation to 10 days compared with the known low compliance of 14 days.
‘In the published impact assessment for the self-isolation duty, we recognised the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days was likely to have a negative impact in a wide range of circumstances and on protected groups.
‘Safely reducing the self-isolation period to 10 days will reduce these relative harms.
‘This change reduces the length of time children and young people spend away from face to face learning, reduces the impact on those with caring responsibilities (disproportionately women) and helps to relieve the disruption for businesses and our vital public services.’