Covid: 'Top UK medics didn't meet' before isolation move

A senior Welsh Labour minister has said there was no meeting of the UK's chief medical officers before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he could end England's Covid rules early.

The legal rule to self-isolate could end later this month in England.

Welsh Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said there was also no agreement between the UK's health ministers.

But a Downing Street source said the devolved governments were told before the PM made his announcement.

The prime minister was laying out his intentions and the full strategy will be set out in due course, the source added.

Under the current rules, anyone in Wales or England who tests positive must self-isolate for at least five full days.

Chief medical officers (CMOs) are the most senior government advisers on health in the UK.

They have had a key role in the pandemic providing guidance for ministers on Covid.

Each of the four nations has a separate CMO - in England it is Professor Sir Chris Whitty, while Dr Sir Frank Atherton is his counterpart in Wales.

Economy Minister Mr Gething made the comments as he announced that Wales could scrap its own self-isolation and mask rules by the end of March.

• Covid isolation in England could end this month

• Wales' mask and isolation laws could end in March

• What Covid rules remain across the UK?

He told the BBC he was "fairly surprised" by the manner of the PM's announcement, and the fact that it did not appear to be underpinned by public health advice.

If the advice exists, he said, "it hasn't been shared with us."

"There certainly wasn't a meeting and agreement between the chief medical officers across the UK.

"There was no meeting between health ministers before this change was made, all the things that have been very normal during the course of the last two years, didn't take place," he said.

He questioned why no medical advice had been provided to underpin the changes.

"Here in Wales I can look anybody and everybody in the eye and say today's changes have gone through that process."

Earlier this week Boris Johnson said all remaining Covid restrictions could be scrapped, including the legal rule to self-isolate, later in February.

The law will be replaced with guidance, Downing Street said at the time.

Boris Johnson made the announcement at the start of prime minister's questions: "It is my intention to return on the first day after the half-term recess to present our strategy for living with Covid."

He added: "Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions - including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive - a full month early."

On Friday, at the latest Welsh coronavirus review Mr Gething said that self-isolation rules would remain in places in Wales.

"Self-isolation is still an important way of breaking the chain of transmission of the virus and preventing more people from becoming infected," he added.