PART 3Requirement to isolate etc.

CHAPTER 1Requirement to isolate etc. where person tests positive for coronavirus or has close contact with such person

Isolation requirements: general exceptionsI110

1

Paragraph (2) applies where a person is required to not leave or be outside of the place where the person is living by virtue of regulation 6(2), 7(2) F3, 8(2) or 9A(2).

2

The person may leave and be outside the place where the person is living for as long as is necessary—

a

to seek medical assistance, where this is required urgently or on the advice of a registered medical practitioner;

b

to access veterinary services where—

i

they are urgently required, and

ii

it is not possible for another person at the place that the person is living to access those services;

c

to fulfil a legal obligation, including attending court or satisfying bail conditions, or to participate in legal proceedings, where it is not possible or practicable to do so without leaving the place where the person is living;

d

to avoid illness, injury or other risk of harm;

F6da

to enable the person to seek to prevent illness, injury or other risk of harm to another person (“A”) where—

i

it is not possible or not practicable for somebody else to assist A,

ii

the person is not assisting A as part of the person’s work or through providing voluntary services, and

iii

the risk of harm to A from being in the same place as the person is less than the risk of harm to A that the person is seeking to prevent;

e

for compassionate reasons, including to attend the funeral of—

i

a family member;

ii

a close friend;

f

to obtain basic necessities (including for other persons at the place where the person is living or any pets at that place) where it is not possible or practicable—

i

for another person at the place where the person is living to obtain them, or

ii

to obtain them by delivery to that place from a third party;

g

to access public services (including social services or victims' services) where—

i

access to the service is critical to the person's well-being, and

ii

the service cannot be provided if the person remains at the place where the person is living;

F5h

to move to a different place to live—

i

where it becomes impracticable to remain at the place where the person is living, or

ii

to prevent illness to another person who lives in the place where the person is living;

i

where the person is a child who does not live in the same household as the child's parents, or one of the child's parents, to continue existing arrangements for access to, and contact between, the child and the child's parents, and for the purposes of this sub-paragraph, “parent” includes a person who is not a parent of the child, but who has parental responsibility for, or who has care of, the child.

3

Regulations 6(2), 7(2) F2, 8(2) and 9A(2) do not apply to a person who is homeless.

4

Regulation 6(2) does not apply to a person who—

a

has tested positive for coronavirus in the course of a research study (the “prior test”), and

b

tests positive for coronavirus in the course of the same study within the period of 90 days beginning with the date of the prior test.

F45

Regulation 8(2) does not apply to a person who—

a

has completed a course of doses of an authorised vaccine, and—

i

that course of doses was administered to the person in the United Kingdom,

ii

the day on which the person had the close contact which resulted in the notification described in regulation 8(1) is more than 14 days after the day on which the person completed that course of doses, and

b

if requested to do so by the contact tracer who gave the notification described in regulation 8(1), provides evidence that they have completed the course of doses of an authorised vaccine in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).

6

Regulation 8(2) does not apply to a person who—

a

has participated in, or is participating in, a clinical trial of a vaccine for vaccination against coronavirus carried out in the United Kingdom in accordance with the requirements of the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004, and

b

if requested to do so by the contact tracer who gave the notification described in regulation 8(1), provides evidence that they have participated in, or are participating in, a clinical trial in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).

F16ZA

But paragraphs (5) and (6) do not apply where the contact tracer who gives the notification described in regulation 8(1) also notifies the person that the close contact was with a person who has coronavirus which is or may be the Omicron variant.

F76A

A contact tracer may, for the purposes of determining whether to request evidence from a person in accordance with paragraph (5)(b) or (6)(b), obtain and use information about whether a person—

a

has completed a course of doses of an authorised vaccine;

b

has participated in, or is participating in, a clinical trial of a vaccine for vaccination against coronavirus carried out in the United Kingdom in accordance with the requirements of the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.

7

For the purposes of paragraph (5), a person has completed a course of doses if that person has received the complete course of doses specified—

a

in the summary of product characteristics approved as part of the marketing authorisation for the authorised vaccine, or

b

in the instructions for usage approved as part of the authorisation by the licensing authority on a temporary basis under regulation 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 for the authorised vaccine.

8

In this regulation—

a

“authorised vaccine” means a medicinal product—

i

authorised for supply in the United Kingdom in accordance with a marketing authorisation, or

ii

authorised by the licensing authority on a temporary basis under regulation 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012,

for vaccination against coronavirus;

b

“clinical trial” has the meaning given in regulation 2(1) of the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004;

c

“the licensing authority” has the meaning given in regulation 6(2) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012;

d

“marketing authorisation” has the meaning given in regulation 8(1) of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012;

e

“medicinal product” has the meaning given in regulation 2 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.