A quarter of people who have tested positive for Covid have gone onto leave isolation or see friends, according to new data released by the Office of National Statistics

A quarter of people who have tested positive for Covid are then leaving their houses, according to new data released by the Office for National Statistics.

This figure is down in comparison to adherence to isolation protocols in spring, when 86% of people isolated in May.

However, the figure is only slightly above levels of adherence in the summer, which saw around one in five people who tested positive not isolating.

The data was self-reported at the beginning of November, and the ONS said that “care needs to be taken when interpreting [the stats]”.

There was a stark contrast between adherence with self-isolation between the onset of symptoms and receiving a positive test (71%) and the 24 hours after a positive test (98%) and the remainder of the self-isolation period (93%).

This means that a significant number of people were still heading out and about into public spaces despite developing Covid symptoms.

It was only when they had a positive test that people tended to self-isolate.

However, one-in-four people self-reported that they carried out at least one activity during self-isolation that did not abide by requirements.

For example, they left their homes, or had visitors.

Only 18% of respondents were able to completely isolate from others, with most coming into contact with other members of their house.

These figures come as Northern Ireland is now advising people to work from home, as the UK prepares for what could be a tough winter.

The booster campaign has finally stepped up pace in the UK after a sluggish start.

Rollout the last few weeks has averaged around 300,000 jabs a day, with 52% of all over 50s, having had three jabs.

The campaign to get 12-15 year-olds jabbed has stepped up with around 42% of the age group have now been jabbed, up from 25% at the beginning of November.

This means over 110million jabs have now been given in the UK.

Whilst there remains confidence that the booster rollout will prevent any harsher restrictions being implemented this winter, in Europe there is growing concern as the fourth wave runs out of control.

In Romania, bodies have been piled up outside morgues as the country is overwhelmed by case numbers whilst a number of Eastern European countries have introduced restrictions targeting the unvaccinated.