Extremely concerned by the quarantine and travel restriction policy in the UK - which is not based on evidence - and *still* doesn't go far enough, despite the really concerning new variants that are circulating in many parts of the world. Brief thread.

We have closed all travel corridors - this means that everyone now needs to follow quarantine restrictions. But let's look at these. Are these grounded in evidence?

Current quarantine rules in the UK are isolation for 10 days, *but* early release if testing -ve at 5 days.

Is this sufficient to ensure infections are not imported?
No.
Many reasons:
1. The incubation period of virus (infection to symptoms) can be up to 14 days.
2. Testing at 5 days may not pick up infection - people can become test positive & transmit after 5 days of exposure.

Are our regulations in line with other countries?
Both Australia & NZ require quarantine for 14 days. And quarantine is in managed facilities where required support is provided. In Australia, people can be released from quarantine if tested -ve between 10-12 days (not 5 days)

Similar in most of SE Asia - strict quarantine for 14 days.

Rather than introducing strict managed quarantine for 14 days, we have acted late in introducing travel restrictions & instituted a test & release policy which would allow import of infection & new variants.

As the PM said at the briefing, introducing a new variant that could even partially escape vaccines into the population would really scupper the pandemic response. Why, then are we taking these risks?

And if this is to protect the economy, it's truly false economy. lmporting a variant that would put vaccines we have invested billions into at risk at a point where >1000 people are dying every day would have a much bigger impact, not only on public health but also on the economy