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The Covid-19 legal isolation rules for England look set to be replaced by new guidance as part of a government ‘Living with Covid’ strategy.
This is despite health leaders warning that the virus is still here and that it will continue to present challenges to the NHS.
Boris Johnson announced the decision at Prime Minster’s Questions today (Wednesday) with a spokesperson saying afterwards that this would be an “important step for this country” on the route towards learning to live with Covid.
The spokesperson added: “What we would simply be doing is removing the domestic regulations which relate to isolation. But obviously in the same way that someone with flu, we wouldn’t recommend they go to work, we would never recommend anyone goes to work when they have an infectious disease.”
Under the current rules, anyone who tests positive must self-isolate for at least five days. The current regulations are due to expire on 24 March when the Coronavirus Act 2020 is reviewed.
Johnson told parliament: “It is my intention to return on the first day after the half-term recess to present our strategy for living with Covid. 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.”
One in 19 people currently have Covid-19
Latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show that in England, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) increased in the two weeks up to 5 February 2022. It estimated that 2,824,700 people in England had Covid-19 equating to around one in 19 people.
The percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 varied substantially across age groups, with the highest for those aged 2 years to school Year 6 at 11.46% and lowest for those aged 70 years and over at 2.50% in the week ending 5 February 2022.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that health leaders are hopeful for a more ‘normal’ life after everything their teams have been through during the last two years and they are pleased that both hospitalisations and deaths linked to coronavirus continue to decline nationally.
Yet with over 11,400 people in hospitals across the country right now with the disease and on top of that, around 1.3 million people believed to have Long Covid, leaders remain very aware that the virus is still here and that it will continue to present challenges to the NHS.
He added: “Around 40% of NHS staff absences are due to Covid currently and so removing the self-isolation requirements could bolster capacity significantly at a time when the service is committed to tackling its waiting lists but we have to be mindful that it could also lead to higher rates of transmission, which could then lead to more admissions into hospital alongside more ill health in the community.
“The public deserves transparency about what the scientific advice says about self-isolation and if the legal requirements are removed, for clear communications to be given about it being everyone’s responsibility to behave in ways that won’t inadvertently spread the illness to others.
“The government must take a cautious approach as we move onto the endemic stage of Covid, be guided by the evidence, engage the NHS appropriately, and be prepared to review its decision if new threats emerge.”