Eight days in isolation is enough, insist scientists

CUTTING the quarantine period to eight days would be enough to catch almost all infectious travellers, researchers have insisted.

Scientists said that routine testing of passengers flying into the UK from high-risk countries could halve the ‘unnecessary’ 14day quarantine period.

They added that a shorter quarantine was much more likely to be observed and would provide a significant boost to the beleaguered travel industry. A study by the London

School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that testing people on day seven of the quarantine would identify 94 per cent of infectious holidaymakers.

Even a five-day quarantine, in tandem with routine testing, would catch 88 per cent of infections. Those with negative tests could return to work and normal life the next day

– a week earlier than is currently possible. Scientists added that airport screening was a ‘useful tool’ that can catch 50 per cent of all infections. But some quarantine period is still needed as it takes an average of five to six days for symptoms to develop.

Dr Sam Clifford, who led the research, said: ‘Long periods of quarantine are going to make people less likely to travel and also affect an individual’s psychological state, and put financial stress on them.

‘The longer you need to spend in quarantine, the less likely you are to adhere to the rules of quarantine, so we want to make sure that people are only quarantining for as long as they need to.’

The study, based on mathematical modelling of testing and quarantine policies, found that a 14-day quarantine had a 99 per cent effectiveness – but only if everyone followed it to the letter. The findings were backed by other leading scientists who added that testing in airports can provide an ‘essential tool to curb the pandemic’.