Bring in rapid tests to end self-isolation, ministers told
SCIENTISTS and MPS are calling for urgent changes to isolation rules, saying the confinement of Boris Johnson demonstrates the folly of the UK’S testing regime.
A total of 12 MPS, including the Prime Minister, are now self-isolating after coming into contact with Lee Anderson, the Tory MP. Six of them, including Mr Johnson, came into contact with him during a meeting in Downing Street last week, and a further six came i nto contact with him elsewhere, including in Parliament.
Last night, scientists said the situation showed that the system was not “fit for purpose” and it would be far more sensible to offer rapid tests to those at risk of exposure.
They said Mr Johnson, who was treated for Covid-19 in hospital in April, was extremely unlikely to contract the virus again and even less likely to transmit it. None the less, rapid tests should be used for anyone at risk, allowing the vast majority of those exposed to a positive Covid case to be freed far more quickly, they said.
They said the situation demonstrated the urgent need to introduce rapid testing for contacts of positive Covid cases.
Prof Tim Peto, professor of medicine at Oxford University, said: “There is a simple way to take a belt-and-braces approach – we should be operating a system which allows [the Prime Minister] to take a rapid test and be back in Parliament the next day.
“The current system simply hasn’t adapted to the knowledge that we have got. We need to be using these tests to let people out of quarantine far more quickly.”
Prof Peto led trials by Oxford University and Public Health England which last week found that the instant tests – known as lateral flow tests – identified more than 77 per cent of people infected with Covid. Crucially, they identified 95 per cent of those with a high viral load, meaning they were at their most infectious.
Prof Peto said those at risk of Covid, because of close contact with an infected person, should be given the £5
tests every alternate day, allowing them a “freedom pass” to circulate while they remained negative.
The tests are currently being used in Liverpool for mass testing, and may be rolled out more widely as part of Operation Moonshot.
Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine at the University of Oxford, said: “The current system is not fit for purpose … Theoretically, the Prime Minister could get reinfected but the chances are incredibly low.
“We need a much more pragmatic approach, which makes use of rapid testing.”
“We cannot have people being asked to repeatedly self-isolate for 14 days – most people in this position simply cannot sustain it.”
When he announced his self-isolation, the Prime Minister said he was feeling as “fit as a butcher’s dog” and “bursting with antibodies”.
Since the pandemic began, there have been around 25 confirmed cases of reinfection documented, compared with more than 50 million infections.
Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London, told BBC 4’s Today programme that while the risk might appear “negligible”, this was because the threshold defining reinfection was set “quite high”.
Yesterday, a number of Tory MPS, including Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, called for the system to be reviewed, so that people were not expected to self-isolate repeatedly, if they had suffered from Covid.
Sir John said: “It shouldn’t be a special treatment for the Prime Minister, it should be for everyone. You would have had to have been tested and certified that you’d had the disease, and then you wouldn’t have to do it again.”
Steve Baker, a fellow Tory MP, said: “The Government must adopt the goal of enabling people to take a test to exit isolation. Reliable, fast lateral flow tests are an essential component of returning to life and recovering livelihoods.”
Last night, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: “Of course, we keep these things under review but we are not at a stage where we are able to make any of those changes yet”.
Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the health select committee, urged the Government to follow the recommendations of its advisers, and replace self-isolation with regular tests.
‘Reliable, fast lateral flow tests are essential to returning to life and recovering livelihoods’