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Prof Chris Whitty has sparked confusion by saying people should stay in self-isolation “until their test goes negative”, despite official guidance allowing a day 10 exit even with a positive lateral flow test.
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Yes, this will be interesting to see how this plays out.
On the one hand you've got the politicians that really want people to be out and about and not facing seemingly endless isolation, and then you've got the scientists that are saying that a positive lateral flow is a very good indicator that someone is still infectious, so do you really want them wandering around in society if they're still testing positive at the end of their designated isolation period.
(It's almost as if this was the exact set of points I was making a few days ago.)
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So that's the reason why adding those tests on allowed ministers to decide to move from 10 days isolation down to 7, but the last two you do the lateral test because they are very predictive of how infectious someone is, obviously if they still positive they do need to stay in isolation 'til it goes negative.
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Was a direct quote from him.
[EDIT] Anyway, I recognise that a single quote from a TV briefing does not define official Government policy, however (to me) it's indicative of the difference of opinions between the scientists/medics and the politicians. It would be completely unsurprising to find that what is currently Government policy doesn't go far enough in Whitty/Valance's opinion.