Today (30th July) First Minister Mark Drakeford announced that from 7th August all adults who have been fully vaccinated and are not displaying symptoms will no longer have to self-isolate if they are identified as close contacts of someone with coronavirus. Retailers in England and Scotland will have to wait longer for fully vaccinated colleagues to return to work.
From 7th August in Wales, instead of instructing fully vaccinated adults to isolate, contact tracers and advisers will provide them guidance on how to protect themselves and stay safe.
The TTP service in Wales will move to a “warn and inform” service for all fully vaccinated adults and under-18s, who are identified as close contacts which means everyone identified as a contact of a positive case will be advised to have a PCR test on day two and day eight, regardless of whether they have been fully vaccinated.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The decision to bring forward changes to self-isolation rules for fully vaccinated colleagues will be welcome news for local shops in Wales. However, retailers in England and Scotland are becoming increasingly frustrated that they have to struggle on for longer with reduced staffing levels as absence rates remain high due to the ‘pingdemic’.
“We continue to press for the UK Government to bring forward the 16 August self-isolation date for the double vaccinated.”
The full announcement is available here.
