Scottish Government urged to make quick decision on cutting self-isolation period

The Scottish Government is being urged to cut the self-isolation period from 10 days to seven, following a similar move south of the border.

John Swinney said ministers were considering the proposal but were concerned about rising Omicron cases. 

Under current rules, all positive cases and their household contacts must isolate, even if they’ve been vaccinated or have a negative PCR result.

Tens of thousands of key workers are reportedly off sick or self-isolating. ScotRail has been forced to make huge cuts to services, while Glasgow Council has asked nursery teachers to undertake paid shifts in care homes to alleviate staff shortages.

In England, the UK government has changed the policy to allow those who have tested positive and then have negative lateral flow tests on days six and seven to cut their self-isolation time to a week.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "We want to reduce the disruption from Covid-19 to people's everyday lives.

"Following advice from our clinical experts we are reducing the self-isolation period from 10 days to seven if you test negative for two days running."

Asked if Scotland would follow suit, Swinney told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: "What we have to recognise is that the number of cases is likely to become so significant, it's already much more significant, we're already looking at around 5,500 cases a day compared to about 3,500 a day which was just a week ago.

"That's going to give rise to significant absence levels in our public and private sectors and that brings into question the sustainability of some of these services - which is why we have to act to try to slow down the circulation of the virus."

Health secretary Humza Yousaf later said he feared cutting the isolation period could “unwittingly end up releasing from isolation people who are infectious”.

Both Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton have called for the drop. 

Ross told Bauer Radio: “We've seen through the pandemic when we have a UK-wide approach to the regulations that people are asked to follow, it just offers clarity to people.”

He added: “The new self isolation rules that were brought in in Scotland were brought in for understandable reasons, but the knock on effect is having a huge impact on our public services, on our economy and on businesses generally. So I do think it has to be reviewed. 

“I think we need a decision as quickly as possible. This is a very fast moving feast in terms of the new Omicron variant.”

Cole-Hamilton said: "Staff shortages caused by Omicron are already impacting several services, from care homes to train services.

"This call for staff with care experience to step in and help facilitate visits over the festive period speaks to how stretched services are. It would be a terrible blow if families were unable to visit their loved ones in care homes this Christmas. The possibility of elderly and vulnerable people not being able to see their loved ones is heartbreaking. 

"With the UK government now proposing changes to isolation policy, I would like to see the Scottish Government look again at their approach and consider whether changes could safely be made that would ease the burden on our health and care services."