Sajid Javid has announced that the isolation period for fully vaccinated people in England who test positive for COVID will be reduced from seven days to five. The change will come into effect on Monday.
The health secretary has stated that data shows that around two-thirds of positive cases are no longer infectious by the end of day five and “we want to use the testing capacity that we’ve built up to help these people leave isolation safely”.
New research by the UKHSA revealed that only 1 in 20 cases are still infectious with two negative lateral flow tests by day seven, which was nearly the same as the 5% of cases released after 10 days with no testing. However, their modelled scenario showed that more than 30% of cases were still infectious on the fifth day. Although the study did not include cases with Omicron, separate evaluation by NHS Test and Trace has shown a comparable result for the new variant.
Individuals will be able to leave their isolation five full days after experiencing symptoms or receiving a positive test result, whichever is first, provided they have negative COVID-19 tests on days five and six.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “This is a pragmatic move which leaders will welcome if it can mean more health and care workers who are well enough can return to the frontline, providing it does not significantly add to the risk of the virus spreading.”
More information can be found on https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-self-isolation-for-fully-jabbed-in-england-cut-from-seven-days-to-five-sajid-javid-announces-12514874