UK isolation period reduced to 10 days

Self-isolation for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus will be shortened from 14 to 10 days across the UK from Monday.

The change will also apply to people instructed to quarantine after returning from high-risk countries.

It also means anyone who has been self-isolating for 10 days or more will be able to end their quarantine on Monday.

The change has already been announced in Wales, but this new announcement will apply to all four nations.

A statement from the four UK chief medical officers (CMOs) said: “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.

“People who return from countries which are not on the travel corridor list should also self-isolate for 10 days instead of 14 days.”

Each of the four nations has its own lists of “travel corridor” countries which are exempt from the quarantine rules. While in the main, they include the same countries, they can differ slightly.