Cabinet angered by misleading Covid isolation directives

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Downing Street and government ministers were arrested unaware of the UKHSA change. Sunak is understood to have become aware of the contradiction after talks with the Americans and raised concerns at an internal meeting on Monday, while Mr Javid was said to be “disappointed”.

“It’s not ideal that advice not be true, but these things happen,” said a source close to another government minister who had reiterated UKSHA’s position.

Ms Jenny was recently accused of spreading misinformation inflating the risks of the omicron variable, saying that the difference between cases and hospitalizations would not be known for 17 days, when it was widely agreed that the time difference was 10.

No date has been set for the expiration of the seven-day self-isolation rule. Final approval will depend on scientific advisors who say the reduction is a safe course of action, and in particular that it will not lead to a new spike in virus infections.

“We need to make sure that the policy we end up with is robust and will not lead to the problem of many people leaving isolation too early and spreading Covid,” a senior government source said.

The current rules were set just before Christmas, with 10 days replaced by a minimum of seven, with exits based on a negative test on the sixth and seventh. The changes were first made in England, followed by Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

A source in Whitehall said Mr Javid “wants to see as few days as possible and be open for five days if doctors recommend it’s safe to do so”. Another said, “It’s more like a question of when the change will happen, not if.”

They said the UKHSA’s review of the evidence, and examination of transmission rates on Day 5, would be done against other economic and social considerations.

Another source said: “It’s definitely a moving feast – it depends on many different factors, the levels of Covid circulating. There is a balance between the risks of transmission and the need to get people back to work.”

Several ministers have called for changes in recent days, with Education Minister Nazim al-Zahawi saying on Sunday that deconfinement would be “extremely useful” in dealing with employment crises.

A UKHSA spokesperson said: “We have updated our blog following clarification from the CDC on their isolation guidelines on 4 January. Our current guidance is to release individuals from isolation on Day 7 with negative lateral flow test results taken spaced out for two days. 24 hour low risk of releasing an infectious individual – similar to the risk of infection after 10 days of isolation. In the US people are required to isolate for a full 5 days, in the UK the advice is to isolate for a full 6 days.”

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