Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the required period for self-isolation as a result of new variants of covid-19.

On the advice of the four United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers, the self-isolation period for all positive cases and contacts remains at 10 days. This decision is based on the scientific evidence. There is no evidence of a change in the incubation period or infectious period for any variant, therefore the advice regarding the isolation period remains unchanged.