Nurses will have to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from travels to Covid-19 high-risk countries, the Government has said.
The exemption has been in place since the beginning of June and meant that registered health and care staff did not need to self-isolate after returning to England.
However, following a review, the Government has decided to end the exemption for health and care workers ‘to minimise the risk of onward chains of transmission that might infect the wider workforce’.
The announcement said: ‘The move brings them in line with the general public and further protects the NHS and social care system from the spread of coronavirus from overseas, as signs of second waves begin to show in other countries.’
Starting today, anyone returning from a country that is not on the Government’s list of list of countries exempt from self-isolation measures must stay at home for 14 days.
It comes as popular tourist destination Spain was removed from the list last weekend, to the dismay of travellers, amid concerns about rising cases.
It also comes as all four UK governments increased the length of self-isolation for people experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 from seven to 10 days yesterday.
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