Self-isolation law could be scrapped in England this month

SOURCE: BBC– All remaining Covid restrictions in England – including the legal rule to self-isolate – could end later this month, Boris Johnson has said.

Under the current rules, anyone who tests positive must self-isolate for at least five days.

The current restrictions are due to expire on 24 March.

But Mr Johnson told MPs he expected the last domestic rules would end early as long as the positive trends in the data continued.

He said he intended to return after parliamentary recess – which runs from Thursday to 21 February – to outline the government’s strategy for living with Covid.

“It is my intention to return on the first day after the half-term recess to present our strategy for living with Covid,” Mr Johnson said at the start of Prime Minister’s Questions.

“Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions – including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive – a full month early.”

The law will be replaced with guidance, Downing Street said – and for example people will be urged not to go to work if they have Covid.

Back in January, Mr Johnson said he expected the restrictions would end for good when they expired on 24 March – and hinted they could be abolished sooner.

Downing Street also suggested there could be an update on the remaining travel rules at the same time when Mr Johnson sets out the living with Covid strategy later this month.

Asked if the remaining travel rules would remain in place until the end of March, a spokesman said “we will obviously make a decision when we get to that stage”.

Rules for travellers coming to the UK are already being relaxed on Friday 11 February.

Fully vaccinated people coming to the UK will not need to take any Covid tests, and unvaccinated travellers will not have to isolate but they will have to take tests. Everyone still needs to fill in a passenger locator form.

But people going abroad will still need to follow the rules that apply at their destination – and many UK families are choosing to cancel their half-term holidays to Spain because children over 12 must be jabbed to enter.

Daily Covid cases have been trending steadily downwards since the end of January but remain high, with 66,183 on Tuesday.

A broader survey by the Office for National Statistics suggests that more than one in 20 people in the UK had Covid in the week up to 5 February, slightly more than the previous week.

But reported deaths within 28 days of a positive test have yet to fall substantially from their January peak, and are currently averaging over 250 a day, with 314 on Tuesday.

There are signs the high infection rates may be leading to more instances when someone with Covid dies of another cause, however.

In England and Wales, there are about 100 fewer deaths each day where a doctor registered Covid as the main cause of death, compared with the daily reported figure of deaths after a positive test.

Ministers had always said the rule on self-isolation could end before the planned date of 24 March.

The trends are positive – hospital cases are continuing to fall and the huge wave of infections caused by Omicron has not pushed overall deaths above what would normally be seen in winter.

But this decision has still taken most by surprise – as infection levels are still high and it’s unclear what this will do to the spread of the virus.

It is, though, worth bearing in mind that not every infected person was self-isolating anyway.

This winter, the testing system has only picking up half of all infections – at the peak it was missing around an estimated 200,000 cases a day.

What’s more, about one in five of those who test positive do not fully adhere to the self-isolation requirements.

The move is also likely to pave the way for the dismantling of the community testing system, with many experts believing tests will soon only be used in settings such as care homes and hospitals – or to deal with major outbreaks.

England is fast approaching the point where it treats Covid like any other respiratory illness. The rules on self-isolation differ across the four nations of the UK. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales anyone who develops symptoms or tests positive for Covid via a PCR or lateral flow test (LFT) must immediately self-isolate. People are able to leave quarantine after five full days if they have two negative LFT results, 24 hours apart. In Scotland, people must self-isolate for at least seven days – as soon as symptoms appear or they test positive.

In other Covid news, Prof Paul Hunter has said the UK is “past the point” at which vaccinating young healthy children would do any good.Children aged 12 and over in the UK are currently offered a jab but only vulnerable under-12s are eligible for one.The UK’s vaccine advisory body the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is reviewing whether to offer all under-12s a jab. 

But Prof Hunter from the University of East Anglia told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme infection rates in children were “falling really quickly at the moment”.

“So I think in many ways we’re past the point where vaccines are actually going to make much difference… it’s probably too late because most kids have already had Omicron.”