Covid-infected Britons may only have to stay at home for a week after catching the virus, as ministers consider reducing the current 10-day rule over concerns the economy won’t cope.
Based on Government modeling, 2 million people may be caught by the Omicron, an ultra-transmisible Omicron, during peak winter. This could lead to a national lockdown, with many being isolated with mild illnesses, even though hospitals aren’t overcrowded.
Sources claim that the new policy is “under consideration” and that Health Secretary Sajid Jamid is keen to speed up the isolating period as businesses and hospitals struggle with absent staff.
Experts were asked by him to assess whether it was possible to knock three days off this requirement in order for the change to be implemented within days.
It is likely that the change will be met by a daily requirement that those leaving their seven-day isolation take lateral flow tests every day.
Under the current rules, people must self-isolate for 10 days from when their Covid symptoms started — or from their positive test if they are asymptomatic.
However, more than half a billion Britons have tested positive over the past week. The infection rate is expected to continue rising in coming weeks with officials warning that there are 1 million new cases each day.
And a third of NHS staff in London, where mayor Sadiq Khan declared a major incident over the weekend due to Omicron’s impact on the city, could be stuck at home by January.
Experts in health, business leaders, and MPs said that the combination of the 10-day rule and case numbers could cause economic havoc by leaving bars, restaurants, and shops with too few customers and workers, while the emergency services will also become understaffed.
Anybody infected by the virus should be isolated for at least ten days from the moment they become aware of symptoms. Experts say that ministers could reduce the period to just seven days. But, it is possible for Ministers to change the rule. Daily tests are recommended.
According to figures released by the UKHSA, Omicron cases in England rose 69% over the previous day. They went up from 9,427 to 23,168.
Sajid Javid, Health Secretary is believed to want to reduce the time it takes to isolate patients. Hospitals and businesses are struggling because of absent employees. Experts have been asked by Javid to assess whether it’s possible to knock three days off of the required time, with the goal of having the changes implemented within days.
Data from Oxford University’s Pathogen Dynamics Group released in August shows up to 40 per cent of transmission occurs before symptoms emerge, with most happening in the two days before people fall ill. And people seem to be least infection on the last three days of their isolation
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘Well, we will keep anything like that on the isolation period under review based on the latest clinical advice.
‘We would update if that were to change.’
The Government’s scientific advisors have shown that it is possible to decrease the time of isolation without significant effects on infection rates.
Neil Ferguson (Professor Lockdown), an epidemiologist from Imperial College London and whose Covid projections led to the first lockdown, supports this move.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday how he would feel about reducing quarantine to seven days, Professor Ferguson said: ‘All the modelling and analysis would suggest if it’s coupled with lateral-flow testing it’s not going to reduce the effectiveness of the measure that much.’
Tory MP Peter Bone backed a change, saying: ‘We need a more sophisticated policy that can help get people back to work as soon as possible.’
Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia was an expert on infectious diseases. He told the Telegraph Omicron transmission is most common within the first five day after catching it. Once that happens, the risk of infection drops.
The number of NHS staff in London absent due to Covid has more than doubled in four days and one in three of the workforce would be absent by New Year’s Eve if the growth rate continues.
Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s England director, said such a situation would be ‘catastrophic’.