...as Javid – and most of Cabinet – call for quarantine to be slashed
SAJID Javid is now among the Cabinet ministers in favour of slashing the self-isolation period to ease the staffing crisis across the country, it emerged last night.
Provided scientists give the sign off, the Health Secretary supports mounting calls to slash the isolation period from seven to five days, in line with the US and France.
Allies said Mr Javid wanted the ‘fewest days possible’ and that he was ‘open to five days if clinicians can recommend it as being safe to do so’.
Schools, hospitals and businesses are all at risk of being paralysed by the sheer
‘Mitigate some of the pressures on schools’
number of workers stuck at home. With Omicron a much milder strain, the clamour has been growing for ministers to move faster and cut the self-isolation period for people testing negative.
A majority of the Cabinet – including Chancellor Rishi Sunak – are now thought to back the move. At the weekend, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said the reduction to five days would ‘certainly help mitigate some of the pressures on schools, on the critical workforce and others’.
Sources have told the daily Mail that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also backs the move in principle, while International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan is understood to be supportive. Michael Gove, meanwhile, said the easing of restrictions would have to be guided by science but stressed ‘the sooner the better’.
He told Sky News: ‘We are moving to a situation where it is possible to say that we can live with Covid and that the pressure on the NHS and on vital public services is abating.’
Yesterday the Prime Minister gave his strongest hint yet that the period could be cut, telling reporters: ‘The thing to do is to look at the science. We are looking at that and we will act according to the science.’
His official spokesman added: ‘If it is possible to go further, we’d want to act quickly but it needs to be based on the latest evidence and that work is still ongoing. We certainly haven’t received any further updated advice.’
downing Street has asked the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to provide a more precise figure on how many people are infectious after five days.
The body’s modelling suggests that 10 to 30 per cent of people will potentially still remain infectious on day six.
And it has warned that allowing people to return to work early in settings like hospitals could ‘worsen staff shortages if it led to more people being infected’.
The isolation period was cut from ten days to seven just before Christmas, provided the person has two negative lateral flow test results. But the Government has come under intense pressure from MPs and business chiefs to go further to stop the country grinding to a halt.
The latest NHS England data showed 39,142 staff at hospital trusts in England were absent due to Covid on January 2.
A string of ‘critical incidents’ have already been declared by NHS trusts across the country – with the military being called in to assist hospitals in London and the North West Ambulance Service.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – who is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 last week – said he would ‘be inclined to support’ a reduction in isolation times if ‘scientists and medical experts say it is safe’.