Meanwhile, hospital bosses want NHS staff to no longer have to isolate from 19 July, four weeks before quarantine is lifted for the double jabbed and children on 16 August. The fast-growing number of frontline personnel off work is adding to the pressures on hospitals, which are unusually busy for the time of year even without the surge in Covid infections, they said. “The number of staff off isolating because they’ve been pinged by the NHS app is causing real problems and their absence is really affecting their colleagues who are left,” an NHS source said. For example, about 1,000 staff at University Hospitals Birmingham are isolating this week either because they have been identified as a contact, or have had to take time off to look after a child whose “bubble” has been sent home from school or because they are ill themselves, a source said.