Health expert warns axing covid self-isolation rules in Scotland ‘very unwise’

A public health expert has warned it would “probably be very unwise” for Scotland to follow England in lifting the self-isolation requirement if they test positive for covid.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday announced his intention to scrap the legal duty this month, as long as “encouraging trends” in the data continue.

Professor Andrew Watterson said the move south of the border is a “leap in the dark” and creating confusion. Current self-isolation regulations in England expire on March 24 but Johnson said expects to end the last domestic restrictions – including the requirement to self-isolate if you test positive – a full month early.

Prof Watterson told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “It’s almost a big bang approach by the UK Government, a leap in the dark.“It’s not measured in terms of gradually relaxing the controls, it’s a big leap – but there’s also confusion because it’s quite clear that what’s being called for, and even the Prime Minister has said this, is not an end to self-isolation, it’s an end to the regulation about it.“He is urging people to stay at home if they do test positive, so self-isolation is there, but the message is now getting really confused and nobody fully understands what the implications of it would be.“So in that context with the figures that we’ve got on Covid, it would probably be very unwise of Scotland at this stage to go down that particular route.”Prof Watterson, of the University of Stirling, said the approach in England is also different to elsewhere in Europe where countries have been following “low incident strategies”.He said: “There’s an assumption that we can live with relatively high levels of Covid whereas the sort of policies that have been