Boris Johnson has said 16 August, the date when the obligation to quarantine will be lifted for adults who have received two vaccine doses, is “nailed on”, after fears it could be pushed back.
Ministers had last week declined to confirm the 16 August date for England, with the environment secretary, George Eustice, saying it was just “some kind of indication” and could move in either direction.
But when the prime minister was asked on LBC on Wednesday morning if the date could change, he denied there had ever been any doubt about it.
“August 16 is nailed on. There’s never been any question of a review date for August 16,” he said.
Downing Street has been encouraged by several days of significant declines in new Covid cases, although it is unclear if the impact of reopening on 19 July has shown up in the data.
When the more relaxed regime comes in on 16 August, double-jabbed adults identified as close contacts of a person who has tested positive for Covid, will no longer be legally obliged to self-isolate.
Instead, they will be advised to take a PCR test. If it returns a positive result, they will be legally obliged to quarantine; if it is negative, they can go about their lives as normal.
Children will also be exempted from having to quarantine and advised to take a PCR test, despite the fact they are not being given the vaccine.
Ministers hope the move will help to reduce the significant disruption faced in the education sector in recent weeks, in which more than a million children were off school at the end of term.
Ministers also believe that releasing the double-vaccinated from the obligation to quarantine will help to create another incentive for those reluctant to get the jab to come forward.
Conservative MPs had been pressuring the government to bring forward the 16 August date, amid concerns about the disruption caused by the “pingdemic”, with hundreds of thousands of people forced to self-isolate.
The shift to the more relaxed self-isolation rules was the one element of step four of the government’s unlocking “roadmap” that did not go ahead on 19 July, after ministers were told that self-isolation was important in constraining cases.
Explaining that decision to MPs earlier this month, Johnson said, “I’m afraid this is a highly contagious disease and we have to do what we can to stop this spread.”