the period of self-isolation for people
who've had contact with those who've
tested positive for coronavirus is to be
cut from 14 to 10 days
the new rules which already apply in
wales take effect in the rest of the uk
on monday
the change will also apply to travelers
quarantining after returning from abroad
the news came as data showed the number
of coronavirus cases
falling across most of england and
northern ireland but
increasing in wales london and the east
of england
here's our health editor hupin
contact tracing in action here in
peterborough
local authority staff going door to door
to find people who've been recent
contacts of those who test positive
they're following up after initial
attempts by the national test and trace
service
the numbers that they've obviously been
given um they can't contact them on so
we just have to
make that final call to their house oh
hello i'm calling from p3 for those
contacted by the tracers there's better
news they won't have to self-isolate for
so long
after a review by health officials of
scientific studies
all of those combined together show that
the tail end of infectiousness if you
like
is the one where your least an
individual's least likely to transmit
infection
so allowing somebody out of
self-isolation
a short time earlier than that is a
reasonable balance between
managing the risk to the public but
allowing
us not to intrude on their lives
the self-isolation period will come down
from 14 days to 10
that already happens in wales it'll
apply to contacts of those testing
positive
and people coming into the uk and
needing to quarantine
it'll take effect on monday though if
someone's already started a 14-day
isolation
it'll now be 10. if the r number is
above 1 it shows the virus is
accelerating
today's update shows it's just below 1
though back where it was two weeks ago
suggesting no clear trend though there
are variations around the uk
the latest survey of community
infections by the office for national
statistics
suggests that in england 1 in 115
the virus last week with case rates
coming down in most areas
though they were on the increase in
london and the east of england
in wales it was one in 120 with the
virus with increases in recent weeks
in scotland it was also one in 120 with
case rates relatively stable
in northern ireland one in 235 had the
virus
with continued declines in case rates
in areas of southeast england case
numbers are rising fastest amongst 11 to
18 year olds
at this school in dagenham the teacher
is on her own in the classroom
with pupils learning remotely in north
east london and parts of kent and essex
secondary school pupils will be tested
with the virus causing havoc for the
management of schools
we've got a re-juggled cover cases are
coming in for children who then need to
isolate and be sent
home so it's a real challenge
every day is a covey day at the school
at the moment
in birmingham meanwhile kovid marshals
are patrolling the streets
reminding people that social distancing
rules are as important as ever
and that the virus is still a threat
hugh pim bbc news
as vaccines against coronavirus start to
be rolled out there remains an
urgent need to find treatments for
patients with covid19
and scientists have been looking at
genetics as a way forward
a new study published in the journal
nature today looked at more than 2
000 patients in intensive care in the uk
and identified specific genes that can
be targeted
possibly by using treatments already in
use for other diseases
science correspondent rebecca morrell
has more
it's one of the pandemics biggest
puzzles why some people with covid have
no symptoms and others get extremely ill
now one of the biggest studies of its
kind has found possible answers
in our dna people who become desperately
sick with
any infection are genetically different
from the rest of the population
what we're looking for are genes that
that tell us a bit of biological
information
that will enable us to
come up with a better way of treating
critical illness
the scientists looked at the dna of more
than 2 000 covid patients in intensive
care
they scanned each person's genes which
contained the instructions for
every biological process including how
to fight a virus
and they compared this with the dna of
healthy people
to pinpoint any genetic differences and
they found
one a gene called tyqu2 it activates
parts of the immune response
but if that gene is faulty the response
can go into overdrive
what's particularly exciting about the
type 2
finding is that there is already a whole
class of drugs
that inhibit that protein and so they
target very specifically the biological
mechanism that we think is
causing severe covalent
this means existing anti-inflammatory
drugs including one used for rheumatoid
arthritis could be tried
but it isn't the only genetic discovery
one gene helps to kick-start the immune
system as soon as an infection
is detected another plays a role in
stopping the virus from making copies of
itself
and it's revealing which treatments to
use and also
when to use them it really is an example
of
precision medicine where we can actually
identify the moment at which things have
gone awry
in that individual so knowing where the
gene is
in that response to infection gives us
an idea of
whether this is an early response or a
late response and where
we should be intervening vaccines will
decrease
cases of covid but doctors around the
world will be treating this disease for
years to come
so new treatments are urgently needed
and these genetic discoveries
could help in the race to find them
rebecca morel bbc news