A Tory minister today rejected calls to cut the Covid isolation period to five days in England, saying there are “no current plans” to do so.
Chloe Smith said the current period of 10 days for people who test positive - or seven, if they get a negative lateral flow test on days six and seven - was “the right one”.
The minister for disabled people told BBC Breakfast: "There are no current plans in England to change that period.
"Of course, we have actually only recently taken it down from 10 to seven, and we want to look at that - we want to make sure that that is working as we believe it ought to.
"We think the current period, therefore, is the right one, so we haven't any plans to change that further."
A government spokesperson also gave the idea short shrift, saying the isolation period was “critical for limiting the spread of the virus”.
They said last night: “There are no further changes to the isolation period planned at this time, but we keep all rules under review based on the latest health data.”
Calls had been growing for the UK to bring its isolation rules in line with a new five-day period used in the US to ease staff shortages in the NHS.
Infected people in America can now leave home at the half-way point providing they have no symptoms, but they must wear a mask around people for another five days.
Bosses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) insisted the decision was "motivated by science" and to keep "society functioning".
Top immunologist Prof Sir John Bell, who helped develop the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, yesterday suggested he would back a cut in the time.
Pressed on whether he would back a five day isolation, he told the BBC: "If it was supported by lateral flow data, yes."
Tory backbencher Theresa Villiers said the government should “look seriously at reducing mandatory isolation periods,” while Kate Nicholls of UKHospitality urged ministers to “review and act on the latest CDC data to keep the economy moving, address staff concerns in education and health and avoid punitive restrictions and lockdown.”
But shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Tory ministers should avoid "rushing into" cutting isolation times.
He told Sky News: "I think we should always follow the advice of our leading scientists, medical scientists like Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, and I don't think they've given an opinion on this."
Hopes are rising that the Omicron variant will prove less severe than Delta, avoiding an overwhelming tide of serious illness and death even though cases are surging.
But the NHS could be overwhelmed anyway due to huge numbers of staff absences, leaving people unable to get the care they need.
Almost 20,000 NHS staff in England were off due to Covid sickness or isolation on December 17 - up from 13,267 a week earlier.
New data on staff absences due to Covid will be published on Friday.
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor warned that "staff absence is a huge issue for the NHS right now" - on top of about 100,000 vacancies that already existed.
He told the BBC: “It seems as though they are suffering less bad symptoms, and indeed many people who've got Covid are not coming to hospital because of Covid and it's then been subsequently found out - that's good.
"It's also important to recognise the hospitals are full of people who are very vulnerable and, for those people, even a relatively mild form of the virus can have serious consequences.
“So whilst anyone in the NHS would be delighted if people were able to come back to work earlier, if they are safe, we need to be absolutely sure that that is the case."
