Students with COVID-19 in the UK only need to self-isolate for 3 days

The latest change comes amid concerns that students will have to miss school too much because of COVID-19.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that the UK Department of Education’s “Living with COVID-19” guidelines, which were updated in early April, said that students under 18 should only be separated for 3 days to balance the risk of infection with the risk of infection. interrupted learning.

“Based on expert advice, we know that COVID-19 poses a low risk of severe symptoms for the majority of children and young adults and those who have received adequate doses,” the guidelines state. .

In addition, a spokesperson for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said: “There is evidence that children have a shorter duration of illness with COVID-19 than adults. And the new set of guidelines strike a balance between the risk of infection and disruption to learning.”

Accordingly, all early childhood education and care facilities will no longer require routine COVID-19 testing. This is part of the UK Government’s plan to lift the last remaining restrictive measures, while protecting those most at risk from the outbreak.

Dame Jenny Harries, head of UKHSA, said: “As we learn to live with COVID-19, we are focusing on protecting those at high risk of being vulnerable to the virus, while at the same time encouraging Encourage people to maintain simple steps to keep themselves and others safe.”

The UK government has not released the exact reason or evidence for the change.

However, research by the University of Oxford published in August last year found that 98% of infection occurs within the first five days of a person showing symptoms of the disease.

Patients with COVID-19 are believed to be most contagious before and after the onset of symptoms, with decreasing severity. The possibility of infection disappears almost completely after 5 days.

The study has led experts to call for the government to shorten the seven-day quarantine period that paralyzed the UK at the end of last year.