Health experts have called for the self-isolation period to be cut to five days amid increasing staff shortages in the NHS.
Last week the government reduced the period from ten to seven days, but some are calling for ministers to go further.
They want to copy the US, which has cut the isolation period to five days, for the sake of the health service and the economy.
The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said yesterday that chief executives within the health service think that staff isolating will be a bigger pressure on the NHS than people who need treatment for coronavirus.
Their warnings come as the Omicron variant continue to spread at a rapid speed across the globe, leading to a record-breaking surge in Covid-19 cases across Europe and the United States.
Britain recorded at least 129,471 Covid cases on Tuesday, while France reported 179,807 cases, the highest since the onset of the pandemic.
The US reported more than 440,000 news infections on Monday, according to the US Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC).
“The overall risk related to the new variant of concern Omicron remains very high,” the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update.
