Tess Valley Mayor urges Government to end self isolation 'pingdemic' for double jabbed from Freedom Day

Mr Houchen is calling on the Government to “deliver freedom” to people and bring forward the relaxation of self-isolation rules from August 16 to coincide with the lifting of lockdown measures on Monday, July 19.

He said the alerts telling people to self-isolate for 10 days if they have come into contact with someone with the virus are having a huge impact on businesses, with many manufacturing and food companies saying large numbers of staff are off work, despite been double jabbed.

Mr Houchen said: “If we do not deliver freedom for the double jabbed on the 19th of July then hundreds of thousands more people are going to have self-isolate for no reason, and this is going to have a huge impact on manufacturing, food production and the NHS.

“The Track and Trace app played a hugely important part in getting the coronavirus under control while the life-saving vaccines were being developed and rolled out.

"But now that we have nearly 70 percent of people are double vaccinated, including the vast vast majority of the most vulnerable, the government needs to update its guidance and accept that if it’s safe to go to a night club having only one jab after the 19th of July, it’s safe for someone to go to work if they’ve had both jabs.”

More than 530,000 were sent nationally by the app in the week to July 7, a 46% rise on the previous week. That figure is expected to go up with the lifting of lockdown measures from July 19.

Mr Houchen added: “It seems obvious to me that Government should go further by allowing those people who have been double jabbed to not have to self-isolate from the 19th of July.

"Given that this is already deemed acceptable on the 16th of August it seems that waiting another 4 weeks will only cause more disruption and concern to people and businesses at a time when we need to support them back as fully as possible.”

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