Covid isolation period cut from 10 to 7 days in England – No decision in Wales as yet

A top Public Health Wales doctor has said he is “comfortable” with the modelling and data behind England’s decision to reduce the period of time someone who is Covid positive must self isolate.

In England, the self-isolation period for fully vaccinated people who have coronavirus has been reduced from 10 days to seven.

People who receive negative LFD results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – will no longer have to self-isolate for the full 10 days.

The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period.

Those who leave self-isolation on or after day 7 are strongly advised to limit close contact with other people in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, work from home and minimise contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with COVID- 19.

There is no change to the guidance for unvaccinated contacts of positive COVID-19 cases, who are still required to self-isolate for 10 full days after their date of exposure to the virus.

The Welsh Government has said it will “consider the updated medical advice and whether this means our self-isolation requirements should be amended.”

Analysis by the UK Health Security Agency suggests that a 7-day isolation period alongside 2 negative lateral flow test results has nearly the same protective effect as a 10-day isolation period without LFD testing for people with COVID-19.

The new approach reflects latest evidence on how long cases transmit the virus for, and supports essential public services and supply chains over the winter, while still limiting the spread of the virus.

Studies also demonstrate that LFD tests are just as sensitive at detecting the Omicron variant, as they are for Delta.

Dr Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said: “COVID-19 is spreading quickly among the population and the pace at which Omicron is transmitting may pose a risk to running our critical public services during winter.”

“This new guidance will help break chains of transmission and minimise the impact on lives and livelihoods. It is crucial that people carry out their LFD tests as the new guidance states and continue to follow public health advice.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales this morning, Dr Meng Khaw, National Director for Health Protection and Screening Services for Public Health Wales, said any the decision to follow the rule change in England lies with the  Welsh Government but he is “comfortable” with the thinking that has gone behind the decision by UKHSA.

“I’ve looked at the evidence and I’ve looked at the modelling and it’s showing that the risk of doing that is equivalent to the risk of self isolation for 10 days without testing.” He said.

Dr Khaw said the “Omicron wave is truly awful, cases are rising quite rapidly.”

He said: “We now have 640 cases (Omicron cases in Wales) and we’re likely to hit thousands of cases before the year is over.”

“This is a reminder of how nasty Coronavirus is, and it’s very clever in terms of mutating, this mutation is certainly causing the large numbers of Covid that we’re continuing to see across Wales.”

Asked about the lower number of patients in Welsh hospitals with Covid, Dr Khaw said: We are seeing the trends of hospital admissions continuing to go down. ”

“When you look at the figures across three waves of the pandemic, initially we had high hospital admission rates and now we’re seeing very low hospital admission rates.”

“But let’s not forget there is a lag between infection and hospital admission, and Omicron has only been around for three weeks, so this lag may manifest itself over the coming days and weeks and we must continue to take measures to control the rise of Omicron cases.”

“What we also need to look at is the number of cases in other countries in the UK particularly, and in England, we’re seeing high numbers of hospital admissions.”

“Part of that is due to the high numbers of cases but we can’t ignore the fact that the numbers of hospital admissions will continue to rise over the coming days and weeks.”

The huge number of Omicron cases in London could be down to the low vaccination rate there, it was reported that a third of adults are unvaccinated in parts of the city.

Dr Khaw said that compared to London we are “absolutely much better protected in Wales.”

He said: “Vaccination rates are exemplary, whenever you get an invite to have a booster jab or a vaccine dose, you must take it up because if people do not take up the opportunity it means that that appointment is wasted.”

“So I would encourage everyone who receives an invite to have a vaccine to take it up as soon as possible.”

First Minister Mark Drakeford will hold a press conference at 12.15 today (Wednesday) where is expected to announce further restrictions for after Christmas.