Scotland to cut self-isolation period from ten to seven days

The self-isolation requirement in Scotland is to be reduced from ten to seven days.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the change in a statement to Holyrood on Wednesday.

It comes amidst a host of staff shortages in sectors across Scotland, with ScotRail having introduced a temporary timetable with cuts to around 160 services.

Sturgeon explained that from midnight on Thursday, people who test positive for Covid will now be able to end their isolation as long as they have no fever, as well as recording two negative lateral flow tests on day 6 and another at least 24 hours after that.

And the First Minister said that for those who have had all three of their Covid jabs, and are a close contact of someone who has tested positive for the virus, the requirement to self-isolate will end.

It will be replaced by a requirement to take a lateral flow test every day for seven days.

She said that if one of those tests is positive, self-isolation will then be required.

The First Minister explained that anyone identified as a close contact who is over-18 and four months, and not fully vaccinated, will still be asked to self-isolate for 10 days and to take a PCR test.

From Thursday, Sturgeon added, if a person’s lateral flow test is positive and they do not have symptoms, they will no longer be required to take a PCR test to confirm the result.

They must instead immediately isolate and report the result online so that test and protect can commence the contact tracing process.

The requirement has already been changed in England where people are able to end their self-isolation after seven days if they receive negative Covid test results on days six and seven.

In the latest statistics for Scotland, 16,103 positive cases were recorded on Tuesday, with 1223 people in hospital with Covid.

Addressing Holyrood virtually, Sturgeon told MSPs that Covid is “significantly more widespread now than at any stage in the pandemic so far”.

The SNP leader also reiterated her call for people to limit their contact with people from other households, but did indicate that it is “not feasible” to ask people to cut all social interaction.