UK business calls for shorter Covid self-isolation period

Business leaders are calling on the government to cut the self-isolation period for people in England who contract Covid-19 from seven days to five, in an effort to curb labour shortages across industry.

The Federation of Small Businesses said Sir Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser, should review the case for a five-day self-isolation time as recently recommended by US authorities.

The UK government last month cut the self-isolation period after a positive Covid test for double- and triple-vaccinated people in England from 10 to seven days, to try to ease staff pressures for businesses and public services as the Omicron coronavirus variant spread through the population.

The NHS has been hit by significant labour shortages because staff have contracted Omicron, as have companies in industries including hospitality, retail and transport.

Craig Beaumont, head of external affairs at the FSB, said Britain should follow the example of a five-day self-isolation period recommended last month by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“That’s what’s happening in the US — it is the same science, it is the same variant, we are not public-policy experts but we would urge the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser to make a proper assessment of that and see if it is possible,” he added.

Beaumont also said ministers needed to remedy shortages of lateral flow tests after companies and workers struggled to get hold of them over the past fortnight.

Fully vaccinated people can only end self-isolation after a week if they have had two negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven.

Richard Walker, managing director of frozen-food retailer Iceland, said absences at the company had increased from 700 before Christmas to 1,700 now, about 6 per cent of the workforce.

“The government needs to amend the isolation policy,” he added, urging ministers to reduce the period from seven days to five.

Matthew Fell, chief policy director at the CBI, said members wanted the self-isolation time cut from seven days to five.

“We want it kept under review, but we have always been clear that this should be guided by the medical experts — it would be self-defeating if we ended up putting more infections into the public,” he added.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, a trade body, also backed the case for a review of the self-isolation period, saying that hospitality businesses had suffered “massively depressed sales” over the festive season, putting pressure on companies and jobs.

Tim Martin, executive chair of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, said there was pressure on staff numbers but that no pubs and very few kitchens had been forced to close as a result.

About one in 10 rail workers are currently off work because of Covid, according to latest figures from the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators.

Boris Johnson, prime minister, said on Monday that the government would continue to look at the length of the self-isolation period in England. “But the key thing is we don’t want to be releasing people back into the workplace when they are still infectious,” he added.

The UK Health Security Agency set out its reasoning for a seven-day isolation period in a recent blog, saying: “In the UK, the self-isolation ‘clock’ begins when a person starts having Covid symptoms or gets a positive test, whichever is first.

“But in the US, the advice is to self-isolate for five days once you get a positive test which may be some days after the first symptoms.”