‘Crucial’ people isolate when pinged, Number 10 says
It is “crucial” that people isolate when identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, Downing Street has said.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said quarantining at home “remains the most important action people can take to stop the spread of the virus”.
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Why are so many asked to self isolate?
It comes after a minister suggested that isolating when pinged by the NHS COVID-19 app should be a matter for individuals and employers to decide.
Paul Scully, a business minister, told Times Radio: “It’s important to understand the rules. You have to legally isolate if you are on the… contacted by Test and Trace, or if you’re trying to claim isolation payments.
“The app is there to give… to allow you to make informed decisions. And I think by backing out of mandating a lot of things, we’re encouraging people to really get the data in their own hands to be able to make decisions on what’s best for them, whether they’re employer or an employee.”
But a Number 10 spokeswoman said: “Given the risk of having and spreading the virus when people have been in contact with someone with COVID it is crucial people isolate when they are told to do so, either by NHS Test and Trace or by the NHS COVID app.
“Businesses should be supporting employees to isolate, they should not be encouraging them to break isolation.”
This was reiterated by the prime minister’s spokesman, who told a regular Westminster briefing with journalists: “We want people, when contacted, either through NHS test and trace or through the app to isolate.
“It is an important tool that all of us can use, all of us can follow during this ongoing global pandemic.
“The minister did talk about the value that we’ve seen through the app in saving lives and breaking chains of transmission.”
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New self-isolation rules announced
Meanwhile, The Times has reported that another business minister, Lord Grimstone of Boscobel, stressed in a letter to one large employer that the app was only an “advisory tool” and that people were not under any “legal duty”.
It is not a legal requirement to isolate if pinged by the NHS COVID-19 app, but official health service guidance has been that people should “self-isolate immediately” when told to.
There is a legal compulsion to isolate if contacted directly by Test and Trace, however, with the potential for fines for those who do not comply.
Latest figures show that a total of 520,194 alerts were sent to users of the NHS COVID-19 app in the week to 7 July, advising them to isolate, a record number.
There have been calls for the app’s sensitivity to be tweaked, amid warnings that isolation is wreaking havoc on certain industries by creating staff shortages.
But the government has ruled this out in recent days.
From 16 August, under 18s and people who are fully vaccinated will no longer be told to isolate if they come into close contact with someone who has tested positive.
Instead, they will be encouraged to take a test. Anyone who tests positive will still be legally required to isolate, regardless of their vaccine status.
The government has announced it will not be drawing up a list of fully vaccinated “critical workers” that will be exempt from isolating for work purposes.
Instead, employers will have to apply to government departments to exempt workers who are ‘pinged’.
Boris Johnson, who is himself isolating after being identified as a close contact of the COVID-positive Health Secretary Sajid Javid, told a news conference on Monday that isolation is “one of the only shots we have got left in our locker to stop the chain reaction of the spread of C”.
“I’m afraid that at this stage it’s simply a consequence of living with COVID and opening up when cases are high in the way that we are,” the prime minister said.
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There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.
John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.
This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.
Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”
A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.
The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.
This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.
The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.
While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.
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From March: How will the UK scale up defence?
A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.
The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.
“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”
Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.
The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.
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PM Sir Keir Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey on a nuclear submarine earlier this year. Pic: Crown Copyright 2025
On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.
Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.
He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.
“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.
“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”
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