How was Boris Johnson exempt from self-isolation and who can take part in pilot testing scheme?

Three ministers have had access to the self-isolation exemption scheme

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak will be exempt from the legal duty to self-isolate (PA)

Prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak have decided that they will not take part in a pilot testing scheme exempting them from self-isolation, after widespread condemnation over their inclusion.

The pair had been exempt from self-isolation rules after they were exposed to Covid-19 via health secretary Sajid Javid.

Mr Johnson had a lengthy meeting with Mr Javid on Friday. On Saturday, Mr Javid announced that he has tested positive for the virus.

The daily contact testing pilot scheme would have allowed them to work from Downing Street on “essential government business” without having to self-isolate, a Number 10 spokesman said.

Less than two hours after their participation in the scheme was announced, they both pulled out.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove also had access to the scheme in June, after he had travelled back from Portugal after watching the Champions League final.

What is the scheme?

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick had said on Sunday that the test-and-release pilot being used by the ministers was being trialled by about 20 public sector organisations including Border Force and Transport for London.

He added that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak would have been tested daily at a “special asymptomatic testing centre”, which has been set up in Downing Street, but that they would not have been allowed to socialise.

What has the reaction been?

The announcement of their exemption had sparked fierce condemnation, after half a million people were advised to self-isolate by the NHS app in the first week of July – leading the sharp increase in alerts to be dubbed a “pingdemic”.

Given the sheer number of workers self-isolating, concerns have been raised over food supplies, and a Tube line even closed on Saturday.

It is legally required for someone to self-isolate if phoned up by the NHS Test and Trace team, but self-isolation after receiving an app alert is strongly encouraged but not legally enforced.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said it “beggars belief” that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were allowed to make use of the “special VIP lane”.

Shadow mental health minister Dr Rosena Allin-Khan said: “Half a million people pinged by the Test & Trace App last week had to self isolate. Boris Johnson finds it too inconvenient so bends the rules.”

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy condemned the government as “a sleazy, duplicitous joke.”

Gove (left) particpated in the scheme in June, and Javid (right) has tested positive for Covid (PA)

When Mr Jenrick was told on Sky News that it appears to be “one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us”, he acknowledged that receiving a self-isolation alert is “frustrating” but he insisted that people pinged ought to self-isolate.

Thousands of people being advised to self-isolate have rendered many workplaces unable to operate because of severe staff shortages. The number of people being advised to self-isolate for up to 10 days could increase by about four million, Lord Bilimoria, president of the Confederation of British Industry, has warned.

What about everyone else?

Covid restrictions are to be lifted in England on Monday, but the rules on self-isolating for people who have been in the presence of someone who tests positive will not be eased until 16 August.

From that date, people who are double-jabbed will be able to take tests rather than have to self-isolate.

Since May, a wider contact testing scheme was launched by Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace that seeks to involve as many as 40,000 people to see if the 10-day isolation period can be safely reduced.

The people were enlisted after they been phoned up by the NHS Test and Trace team following their exposure to the virus.

The contacts have been required to test themselves every morning for seven days with lateral flow tests sent to their homes. On each day they test negative and develop no symptoms they become exempt from the legal duty to self-isolate and can leave home for “essential activity” – the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

The Independent has contacted the DHSC to confirm whether this wider pilot scheme is the same one the ministers had access to.