Health Secretary Sajid Javid gives a major Covid update in statement to the Commons TODAY

The Health Secretary will give the Covid update to ministers in the House of Commons later today.

It comes in the middle the call to reduce the quarantine period for people with Covid it’s five days.

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Right before Christmas it was reduced from ten to seven days, but as hospitals and emergency services struggled with staff absenteeism, more changes were required.

Last night we told ministers how they expected to make a decision, as soon as today, on the matter of urgency.

Government scientists have told Boris Johnson he will have to accept a slightly increased risk of people having to leave quarantine while still being contagious if he wants to get people back to work soon. than.

It follows a sequence extremely active research showed that Omicron was milder than other strains in the vaccine.

Health officials have repeatedly said the Covid booster shots protect from becoming seriously ill with the variant and offer the best chance of weathering the pandemic.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has submitted updated estimates to the Cabinet Office, concluding that a 5-day quarantine period would present a higher risk of infection than the current 7 days.

But Sajid Javid is believed to be one of a number of ministers agreeing the policy makes sense as infections begin to soar but absenteeism at work continues.

It is thought that The shorter quarantine period is expected to be signed today at a meeting of the government’s Covid-O committee.

Today, Professor Tim Spector, from the Zoe Covid Symptom Study, said Omicron is likely to affect people for a shorter time.

He added: “It shows that restrictions, social distancing, maybe wearing a mask have more effect on colds and flu than omicrons, are even better at infecting us. .

“It shows that these symptoms are of shorter duration than those of Delta.

“Can’t give an exact number on it, but that’s pulling in the data – that’s what it looks like.

“People have symptoms for a shorter period of time, especially during that first week.

“It suggests that the one-week quarantine period can be reduced to five days.

“If people come back negative on lateral flow tests by the end of those five days because of that whole stage of infection and it’s likely to get over it faster.

“Unmanned hospitals are at a much worse risk than the occasional Covid slip through.”

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It is estimated that about six percent leave quarantine while still contagious under current rules.

If the quarantine period is reduced to five days with a negative test result, this number will increase to about 8%.

“It’s a sliding scale of risks and it’s up to ministers to make trade-offs,” one official was quoted as saying.

“If they think the risk to key workers out of work or the economy not moving as quickly as possible outweighs the risk of contagion, that’s up to them.”

Just last week ministers were be careful when making any changes that has the potential to exacerbate the epidemic and necessitate further restrictive measures.

It follows suggestions from experts saying that Deadly bugs may soon be like the common cold in spring – with data showed that 98% of Britons have ‘some form’ of resistance to Omicron.