Jersey to restart unrestricted travel next week

Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham made the announcement this morning, saying Jersey was now armed with medical information and a community that knows how to stay safe.

'As a result of the position Jersey finds itself in, and based firmly on medical advice, we now believe that the time is right to resume – very carefully and with safeguards in place – travel to and from our island,' the Jersey minister said.

'In what we are calling the Safer Travel Period, we are proposing that people can travel to and from Jersey from 3 July without restrictions and without the need for special permission on medical, essential worker or other grounds.

'This means that islanders will be able to visit friends and family after the long isolation. It also means that tourists and visitors will be welcome here again.'

He accepted the change would concern some.

'We recognise that being an island is probably one of the factors that has kept us relatively safe during the pandemic,' he said.

'And we know some people will be feeling concerned about the prospect of letting the virus in again when flights and ferries return. I have reassured islanders, on a number of occasions, that we could only reopen our travel links when it was safe to do so, and I have no doubt that the measures we are putting in place will achieve this.'

The news comes as Guernsey investigates testing of arrivals on the seventh day of their return, with a trial taking place next month. But Guernsey officials have made clear that for now most people arriving here will face 14 days quarantine. Rather than have an air bridge with Jersey, Guernsey is instead setting up an air bridge with the Isle of Man, which has the same quarantine requirements.

Blue Islands, British Airways, EasyJet and Condor are set to restarted operating to Jersey gradually and every traveller entering Jersey must either participate in the border testing programme or self-isolate.

'I want to reassure islanders that travel into the island is managed in a safe and consistent way,' Senator Farnham said.

Jersey currently has six active Covid-19 cases, but they are all asymptomatic.

Jersey external relations minister Ian Gorst said the number of infections in the UK was falling and Jersey was in a good position.

'We cannot continue to keep our borders closed indefinitely,' he said.

'We must open up again to the rest of the world carefully, sensitively and in a controlled way. Ministers believe the Safer Travel Policy does just that.'