The clamour to end the 'pingdemic' farce intensified last night as the Government admitted daily testing is 'just as effective' as ten days in isolation.
Ministers are stubbornly refusing to relax self-isolation rules for the double-jabbed before August 16, despite the restrictions wreaking havoc on businesses.
Yet the Department of Health itself yesterday pointed to research which found daily contact testing was just as good at controlling transmission as the current isolation policy.
In a press release, the department said: 'Research carried out by the University of Oxford between April and June 2021 and supported by the Department of Health and Social Care found that in schools, daily contact testing was just as effective at controlling transmission as the current ten-day self-isolation policy.'
The clamour to end the 'pingdemic' farce intensified as ministers are stubbornly refusing to relax self-isolation rules for the double-jabbed before August 16 (file photo)
The admission prompted demands from business leaders and MPs for ministers to listen to their own research and let people take daily Covid tests if they come into contact with a positive case, rather than isolate.
It comes amid a campaign by the Daily Mail to stop vital workers being compelled to isolate unnecessarily.
Ministers have agreed a limited number of exemptions from the isolation policy for critical workers – such as frontline NHS staff, binmen and border officials.
But last night Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the current guidelines are 'simply not fit for purpose' and are 'wreaking havoc in the hospitality sector'.
'Up to a fifth of staff in the industry are having to self-isolate at any one time, forcing businesses to reduce operating hours or shut completely,' she said.
'This latest research shows that a test to release system would help the sector on its road to recovery and effectively prevents the spread of coronavirus.'
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said the guidelines are 'not fit for purpose' and are 'wreaking havoc in the hospitality sector'. Pictured: Empty shelves in Tesco in March 2020
As the pingdemic continued to cause chaos:
Shoppers posted images of empty shelves – claimed to have been taken in recent days – from Cornwall, Dorset, London and north Wales; Figures showed a record 1.13million children were out of school due to Covid at the end of term; Ministers faced urgent calls to add key sectors such as car manufacturing and steel production to those allowed an exemption to isolation rules; A study warned that families who lose their holidays because one or more member is 'pinged' face losing their cash as well.Chris Weeks, director of the National Body Repair Association – representing vehicle repairers – warned that failure to include bodyshop workers in the exemptions could hamper the repairing of emergency vehicles.
He said: 'It is frankly bizarre that bodyshop workers have not been added to the exemption list considering they were on the list of key workers at the beginning of the pandemic.
'This has the real potential to significantly hamper the repairing of emergency servicing vehicles, including ambulances and police cars.' Senior Conservative MPs also urged the Government to amend the rules.
Former Cabinet minister David Jones said: 'If you are double jabbed and are willing to have daily lateral flow tests, it seems to me that there is no danger to anybody else, but you can get on with your everyday life and help the economy.'
And former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'I don't understand what they are dragging their feet over. Over 70 per cent have had the jabs now – we're way past critical mass.'
Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday acknowledged people's frustrations but told the nation to 'stick with the programme' until August 16.
Mr Johnson, who made the comments on his first visit since being released from his own period of self-isolation, said: 'We do need to use the tools that we have. Self-isolation is the one that we've got. I urge people to do it.'
The Unite union says action is needed to protect manufacturing amid concerns industrial companies will be encouraged to switch production overseas.
Steve Turner, Unite's assistant general secretary, said: 'It has been frustrating and baffling in equal measure for manufacturers and our members. We have worked extremely hard and companies have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds across the sector to ensure our plants are Covid-safe.
'Manufacturing simply cannot operate with thousands of workers, sometimes whole shifts, stuck at home as has been
