Covid-19: Self-isolation for positive contacts reduced
The rules are changing for the whole of the UK
Last updated 11th Dec 2020
If you're told that you're a close contact of someone who's tested positive for coronavirus, the self-isolation period is being cut from 14 to 10 days.
The UK's chief medical officers have announced the change.
It's come into effect immediately in Wales, and will apply to people in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland from Monday (14th December).
In a joint statement from the medical officers, they've said:
"Self-isolation is essential to reducing the spread of Covid as it breaks the chains of transmission. After reviewing the evidence, we are now confident that we can reduce the number of days that contacts self-isolate from 14 days to 10 days.
"We urge everyone to self-isolate when appropriate, it will save lives."
The rules will also see the quarantine period for travellers arriving in the UK from countries not on the safe travel list will also be cut to 10 days.
The changes will also apply to all those who are currently self-isolating, including those who began doing so before Monday (14th December).
The 10 self-isolation period is already in place for those people who have tested positive for coronavirus themselves.
What about NHS Test and Trace?
The national test and trace service will inform people to self-isolate for 10 days from Monday too.
But if you have the app downloaded to your phone, the technology will only be updated from Thursday (17th December).
The official advice is that if you get a notification to self-isolate on the app before Thursday, you'll be allowed to end your quarantine when the countdown timer says three days left.
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