Name: Coronavirus self-isolation cut to 10 days in UK - BBC News
Uploaded: 2020-12-16T18:27:37.000Z
Duration: 6 min 11 s
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The period of self isolation for people who have had contact with those who've tested positive for coronavirus is to be cut from 14 to 10 days.

The new rules, which already applying whales take effect in the rest of the UK on Monday.

The change will also apply to travelers quarantining after returning from abroad.

The news came as data showed the number of coronavirus cases falling across most of England and Northern Ireland but increasing in Wales, London on the east of England.

Here's a health editor, Hugh Pin Contact tracing in action here in Peterborough.

Local authorities staff going door to door to find people who've bean recent contacts of those who test positive.

They're following up after initial attempts by the national test and trace service.

The numbers that they've obviously been given they can't contact them on.

So we just have to make that final call to their house.

For those contacted by the traces, there's better news they won't have to self isolate for so long after a review by health officials of scientific studies.

All of those combined together show that the tail end of infectiousness if you like is the one where you released an individual's least likely to transmit infection, so allowing somebody out of self isolation a short time earlier than that is a reasonable balance between managing the risk of public but allowing us not to intrude on their lives.

The self isolation period will come down from 14 days to 10.

It'll apply to contacts of those testing positive on people coming into the UK and needing to quarantine.

If someone's already started a 14 day isolation, it will now be 10.

If the our number is above one, it shows the virus is accelerating.

Today's update shows it's just below one, though back where it was two weeks ago, suggesting no clear trend, though there are variations around the UK, The latest survey of community infections by the Office for National Statistics suggest that in England, one in 115 people had the virus last week, with case rates coming down in most areas that they were on the increase in London on the east of England in Wales, it was one in 120 with the virus with increases in recent weeks.

With case rates relatively stable in Northern Ireland, one in 235 had the virus, with continued declines in case rates.

In areas of Southeast England, case numbers are rising fastest amongst 11 to 18 year olds at this school in Dagenham, the teachers on her own in the classroom, with pupils learning remotely in north east London and parts of Kent.

In Essex, secondary school pupils will be tested with the virus, causing havoc for the management of schools.

We've got a really juggle cover cases, air coming in for Children who then need to isolate and be sent home s Oh, it's a real challenge.

In Birmingham, meanwhile, co vid marshals of patrolling the streets, reminding people that social distancing rules are as important as ever and that the virus is still a threat.

Zmax Scenes against coronavirus start to be rolled out There remains an urgent need to find treatments for patients with covert 19, and scientists have been looking at Genetics is a way forward.

A new study published in the journal Nature today looked at more than 2000 patients in intensive care in the UK and identified specific genes that could be targeted, possibly by using treatments already in use for other diseases.

Science correspondent Rebecca Morelle has more.

Why some people with covert have no symptoms on others get extremely ill.

Now, one of the biggest studies of its kind has found possible answers in our DNA.

People who become desperately sick with any infection are genetically different from the rest of the population.

What we're looking for, our genes that tell us a bit of biological information that will enable us to come up with a better way of treating critical illness.

The scientists looked at the DNA of more than 2000 covert patients in intensive care.

They scanned each person's genes, which contain the instructions for every biological process, including how to fight the virus on.

They compared this with the DNA of healthy people to pinpoint any genetic differences, and they found one, a gene called TAIK to it activates part of the immune response.

What's particularly exciting about the take to finding is that there is already a whole class of drugs that inhibit that protein.

Eso the target very specifically, the biological mechanism that we think is causing severe Cupid.

This means existing anti inflammatory drugs, including one used for rheumatoid arthritis could be tried.

One gene helps to kick start the immune system as soon as an infection is detected.

Another plays a role in stopping the virus from making copies of itself, and it's revealing which treatments to use and also when to use them.

It really is an example of precision medicine where we can actually, uh, identify the moment at which things have gone awry in that individual.

So knowing where the gene is in that response to infection gives us an idea of whether this is an early response or late response and where we should be intervening.

 Vaccines will decrease cases of co vered, but doctors around the world will be treating this disease for years to come, so new treatments are urgently needed on these genetic discoveries could help in the race to find them. 