can i lfd after having covid?

From Monday 17 January, people with COVID-19 in England can end their self-isolation after 5 full days, as long as they test negative on day 5 and day 6.

The decision has been made after careful consideration of modelling from the UK Health Security Agency and to support essential public services and workforces over the winter.

It is crucial that people isolating with COVID-19 wait until they have received 2 negative rapid lateral flow tests on 2 consecutive days to reduce the chance of still being infectious.

The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day. If an individual is positive on day 5, then a negative test is required on day 6 and day 7 to release from isolation.

It is essential that 2 negative rapid lateral flow tests are taken on consecutive days and reported before individuals return to their job or education, if leaving self-isolation earlier than the full 10-day period.

For instance, if an individual is positive on day 5, then a negative test is required on both day 6 and day 7 to release from self-isolation, or positive on day 6, then a negative test is required on days 7 and 8, and so on until the end of day 10.

Those who leave self-isolation on or after day 6 are strongly advised to wear face coverings and limit close contact with other people in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, work from home if they can do so and minimise contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with COVID-19.

The default self-isolation period continues to be 10 days, and you may only leave self-isolation early if you have taken 2 rapid lateral flow tests and do not have a temperature in line with guidance.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Existing public health measures remain in place, including:

Self-isolation may continue in certain circumstances, such as for those who work with vulnerable people. A full list will be published in guidance in due course.

Vaccinations remain our best defence against COVID-19, offering substantial protection against infection and hospitalisation – and the government continues to urge the public to get boosted as soon as you’re eligible.

In line with today’s announcement, the government will also consider the guidance for close contacts of people with COVID-19, including around the advice for fully vaccinated contacts to take daily rapid lateral flow tests for 7 days.

Under the current testing rules, around 6% of people will be infectious when they are released from isolation on day 7 following 2 consecutive negative rapid lateral flow tests.

Once the guidance is changed to end isolation on day 6 with 2 consecutive negative rapid lateral flow results, modelling from the UK Health Security Agency shows this figure will rise to around 7%.

If you leave isolation on day 6, after 5 full days of isolation, between 20% and 30% of people are still infectious.

The percentage of those released while infectious is reduced to around 7% if people have 2 consecutive negative tests and then leave isolation from day 6.

The self-isolation period was previously reduced from ending on day 10 to day 7, with a negative rapid lateral flow test result taken 24 hours apart on day 6 and 7 on 22 December 2021.

Individuals may only leave isolation once they have had 2 negative rapid lateral flow tests on 2 consecutive days; if they test positive on day 5, 6 or 7, they must continue testing until they have 2 negative tests.

If you test positive for COVID-19 you must self-isolate, it is the law. The law states that you must self-isolate for 10 days, however this change enables people who are not infectious, proven via 2 negative tests over 2 days, which can start from day 5, to leave isolation on day 6.

Lateral flow tests (LFTs) can tell you if you’re infected with COVID-19 within minutes, rather than waiting 24-48 hours for the results of a PCR test. They’ve been suggested as a means of avoiding self-isolation or ensuring that it is safe to visit vulnerable people. However, because they are less accurate than PCR tests, the results need to be more carefully interpreted.

When people talk about the accuracy of different COVID-19 tests, what they often have in mind is their sensitivity. This is the ability of the test to accurately diagnose people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2. A recent Cochrane Review, which combined the results of multiple studies assessing the accuracy of LFTs, found that the average sensitivity of such tests was 72% among people with COVID-19 symptoms, and 58% for people without symptoms. This would mean that in for every 100 people infected with COVID-19 who had symptoms, only 72 of them would test positive on a LFT.

Because of this relatively low sensitivity, a negative test result cannot guarantee that you aren’t infected – false negatives are reasonably common. So, if you have any symptoms of COVID-19, you should behave as if you are infected, which will mean self-isolating and ideally book a PCR test if possible.

However, if you get a positive test result, you can be more confident that you really are infected. This is because the specificity of LFTs – their ability to accurately diagnose uninfected individuals – is higher, and therefore false positives are highly unlikely. In people who did not have COVID‐19, LFTs correctly ruled in infection in 99.5% of people with COVID-like symptoms, and 98.9% of those without them.

Whether or not the test is being used in an area with many COVID-19 cases is also important. If an LFT (or any diagnostic test) is used in a context where the disease is very rare, the likelihood that a positive result is true is lower and the likelihood that a negative result is true is higher. Conversely, if an LFT (or any diagnostic test) is used in a context where the disease is very common, the likelihood that a positive result is true is higher and the likelihood that a negative result is true is lower.

This still means that a small number of people who receive a positive test result will be unnecessarily told to self-isolate (the precise number depends on the prevalence of the virus in the community at any given time). To reduce this risk, some countries ask anyone who tests test positive on a LFT to do a confirmatory PCR test.

Although PCR tests are widely regarded as the most accurate way to diagnose COVID-19, one problem with them is that fragments of viral RNA can linger for weeks after infectious virus has been cleared – meaning you may test positive even though you no longer pose a risk to other people.

What to do if you have tested positive for COVID-19

You are encouraged to report your positive LFD result online. This is for Public Health surveillance purposes only. There is no need to report any negative results.

Report LFT result

There are additional anti-viral treatment options for selected groups of people with coronavirus who are thought to be at greater risk.

The most effective way to avoid passing on any respiratory infection, such as COVID-19, is to stay at home and avoid contact with other people.

You are encouraged to

While you are infectious there is a high risk of passing on COVID-19 to others in your household. These are simple things you can do to help prevent the spread:

Leaving the house when positive

If you test positive for COVID-19, you are strongly advised to stay at home and away from others until you have a negative LFD test result or until 5 days after the day of your first positive result. If you do need to leave your home, you should take the following steps to reduce the chance of passing on the infection to others:

Advice for close contacts