Covid self-isolation period cut to seven days in Scotland

Coronavirus self-isolation rules in Scotland are to be cut from 10 to seven days, Nicola Sturgeon has announced, bringing the country broadly in line with the rest of the UK.

Scotland’s First Minister had faced pressure from opposition parties to make the change, which applies as long as people test negative on days six and seven of isolation.

The change was announced as Ms Sturgeon confirmed 16,103 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours.

She also announced that household contacts of a person with the virus will no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days but instead take lateral flow tests for seven days and isolate if any of those return a positive result.

This applies only to those aged under 18 years and four months old or people who are fully vaccinated, including a booster jag, with others still having to isolate for 10 days and take a PCR test.

All changes come into effect from midnight on Wednesday.

Ms Sturgeon confirmed the changes in an update to a virtual session of the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

She told MSPs: “These changes are significant and not completely without risk.

“However, at this stage of the pandemic they strike an appropriate balance between the continued importance of self-isolation in breaking chains of transmission, and reducing the disruption self-isolation causes in the economy and critical services.”