Quarantine to be eased to five days with test

QUARANTINE will be lifted in two weeks’ time with those who test negative for Covid-19 on day five freed from having to self-isolate.

Grant Shapps will announce today that blanket quarantine will be ended in time for Christmas so families can travel to high-risk “red list” countries to visit relatives and reduce their time in selfisolation by up to nine days on their return. The Transport Secretary has convinced sceptics in government who were pushing for returning holidaymakers or businessmen to remain in quarantine for at least seven days.

The regulations will be changed to enact the new five-day regime on Dec 15 or 16, with people freed from quarantine as soon as they get their test result, which could potentially be by the evening of the fifth day.

Travellers returning from high-risk countries which do not have a travel corridor will be able to order a Covid test from a list of approved companies published on gov.uk.

The gold standard PCR tests are expected to cost between £130 and £180 although prices are likely to fall if there is high demand. They will add significant costs to a family holiday, which is why ministers are looking to replace them with rapid saliva tests which produce results in an hour and currently cost half the price. The timing of their introduction will depend on the success of trials in Liverpool and other cities.

A source said: “The rule will be that you can have the test on day five and, either on the same day or day six, release yourself, depending on when you get your negative result. We are looking to enforce it in December in two weeks’ time, around December 15.”

It represents a victory for The Daily Telegraph’s Test4travel campaign to replace quarantine with tests, and follows warnings by the aviation industry that the policy was hindering a return to travel. Critical to convincing Public Health England and Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, was research showing tests at five and seven days were equally effective with both detecting Covid in 90 per cent of cases.

It was supported by research showing 14- day quarantine was the least effective strategy to prevent the spread of Covid into the community because of compliance rates as low as 20 per cent.