Covid isolation rules must be relaxed to stop Britain grinding to a halt, health experts and business chiefs said last night.
They warned the ten-day rule was ‘lockdown by stealth’ – keeping people at home even when their symptoms and infectiousness had eased.
Leading doctors suggested that quarantine could be ended early for those who test negative for at least two days in a row.
Daily virus cases hit a record 93,000 yesterday and are expected to go much higher – raising fears that self-isolation will cause chaos to schools, hospitals and the economy.
It is not yet known whether Omicron – the Covid variant driving the surge – is milder. However, victims recover faster and may become less infectious just three to five days after a positive test, according to evidence from South Africa.
‘People are most infectious in the first five days, after which time infectiousness falls,’ said Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia.
‘Some people are no longer infectious after three days and it makes no sense to keep them locked up.
‘Isolating people…
