Can we stop self-isolating, and how likely am I to catch Covid again?

Q Is it really true that people who catch Covid won’t have to self-isolate any more?

A Yes, if all goes according to the Prime Minister’s plan. Last week, Boris Johnson pledged to remove all Covid restrictions in England by the end of this month – a month earlier than planned – including the duty to self-isolate if you test positive.

But some experts are worried. Dr James Gill, of Warwick Medical School, says: ‘I have significant concerns patients will become complacent in the face of infection, resulting in further spread.’

There is also concern for the fate of 500,000 clinically vulnerable people who may not respond to vaccines, while others have worries that a move away from self-isolation and, ultimately, testing, could mean the UK loses track of new variants.

Dr Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Leeds, says: ‘Literally blinding ourselves by removing testing and isolation robs us of the most fundamental means of controlling the spread of this virus.’

But Professor Paul Hunter, public health expert from the University of East Anglia, says there are grounds for optimism, adding: ‘Case numbers have once again started to fall. Hospital admissions and ITU [intensive therapy unit] bed occupancy continue to fall and deaths are also now falling.’

Q How common are Covid reinfections?

A Increasingly common. Earlier this month the Government began incorporating reinfections into its daily data announcement.

And the insights from them have been telling.

Roughly one in ten of all infections this year up to the first week of February was in someone who had previously had Covid.

The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics suggests reinfection is far more likely with Omicron if you’ve had a different variant previously.

The risk of getting Covid for a second time was 16 times higher during the Omicron-dominant period, compared with the last half of 2021, dominated by Delta.

But Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, says a combination of previous natural infection and full vaccination will offer high levels of long-lasting protection against severe disease and death.