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Health and Social Care Bill

I apologise for not being here yesterday; I was giving a lecture in Oswestry, which is a long way away. Other possible explanations make this clause necessary and helpful. If a child in a closed community such as an army barracks or a boarding school develops a serious infectious illness, they may be isolated in a sick bay with full barrier nursing to prevent the infection from spreading. Children who may have been in contact with that child but who show no sign of infection are then put in quarantine in case they subsequently develop the infection; they would be prevented from going out into the community because of the danger that they might present. As the noble Baroness said, there is a significant difference between isolation and quarantine, which is why the clause is needed.