The isolation period for fully vaccinated people in England who test positive for COVID will be reduced from seven days to five, the health secretary has announced, APA reports citing Sky News.
Revealing the move in a Commons statement, Sajid Javid said data from the UK Health Security Agency 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".
The change will come into effect on Monday, with individuals able to leave their isolation after five full days provided they have negative COVID-19 tests on days five and six.
"These two tests are critical to these balanced and proportionate plans, and I'd urge everyone to take advantage of the capacity we have built up in tests so we can restore the freedoms to this country while we're keeping everyone safe," Mr Javid said.
"Before Christmas he told us there was no issue with supply, but over Christmas NHS staff and other keyworkers were unable to access tests because the government hadn't noticed that the deliveries had shut up shop for Christmas," he said.
At the moment, fully vaccinated individuals who test positive are able to end their isolation period after seven days if they receive a negative lateral flow test on days six and seven - with the tests taken 24 hours apart.
This change was introduced just before Christmas, but there have been calls for the government to reduce the isolation period again due to continuing pressure on the NHS and workplaces caused by the high numbers of people isolating.
But worries have been expressed about the potential for such a move to drive an increase in infections.
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