WATCH: Director of Public Health gives coronavirus case update

In a statement to the island's media this afternoon [9 March 2020], director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said the case was identified at 4.30pm yesterday and the person went into quarantine one hour later.

'The family and the patient are doing well, I am pleased to report,' she said.

'From our perspective we need to focus on the management of that person with the best possible clinical care we can and also provide support for them and their family in self-isolation.'

The family are all in quarantine but are not all symptomatic.

This morning Public Health Services started a process of contact-tracing, which involves looking at all of the contact the patient has had within a relevant time.

'We will be contacting those contacts, interviewing them and finding out what sort of follow-up they need.

'We are optimistic that we will be able to get hold of the relevant contacts and provide the necessary support and care for them.'

She said it was important to take a calm, measured and proportionate approach so people are still encouraged to come forward for testing if they are showing signs of symptoms. She wanted them to know that they will be supported through the whole process.

Responding to questions about the risk to the wider public, Dr Brink said the risk was very low with the patient in quarantine.

'It is still important to get out those general public messages of 'catch it, bin it, kill it', the importance of washing your hands and social distancing.

'We really want to ask the population of Guernsey to work with us on this and to look at confirmed sources of information [rather than spread misinformation and rumours on social media].'

She said there was no need to panic-buy items such as toilet paper and islanders were encouraged not to deplete the shelves of supplies because it is not beneficial for the community as a whole.

'We need to work together and act in a responsible way, not only considering ourselves but the entire community.'

She also acknowledged the 'enormous help and support' Public Health has had from the family themselves.

'They are working with us, they want to do everything right and they are trying to do what they can to protect their community and we could not have asked for greater support from them.'

The public was asked to respect the family's privacy, pay attention to the warnings of good hygiene and dispose of waste appropriately.

'All of this is really important as we look to try and contain the virus as much as we can in our island community.'

81% of Covid-19 cases are mild patients make a full recovery and Dr Brink said she was pleased to report that Public Health was happy with the patient's progress.

See below the full press conference:

Someone will only be released from quarantine after they have had two negative tests more than 24 hours apart.

Those tests involve both a nose swab and a throat swab.

Once both of those are negative they are then released from quarantine.

• For more information click here.