This change came into effect in England on Monday 17 January and applies to all positive cases.

 

People who are isolating with COVID-19 can reduce their isolation period after 5 full days if they test negative with an LFD test on both day 5 and 6 and they do not have symptoms.

 

If your child is isolating and tests negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to school immediately on day 6. All test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace.

If the result of either test is positive, your child should continue to isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of isolation.  The new rules apply to those who were already isolating before the 17th.

 

In the last few days the government have announced that from Tuesday, 11^th January, as a temporary measure, positive lateral flow device (LFD) tests will no longer need to book a confirmatory PCR test where there are no symptoms. The advice states that in this circumstance anyone who tests positive on a LFD test must self isolate for 10 days but will be able to leave self-isolation 7 days after the date of their initial positive test if they receive 2 negative LFD results, 24 hours apart, on days 6 and 7.