Traveller honesty vital to new rules

Guernsey Border Agency surveyor Rebecca Falla said it has always been up to the person travelling to know exactly what they need to do before arriving in any country.

‘There have been people who have arrived that didn’t have their accommodation sorted or weren’t aware of the self-isolation rules,’ she said.

‘There was an incident a couple of weeks ago where the person arrived and didn’t want to have to follow the requirements.

‘We’ve put around six people up in a hotel overnight until the next day so they were not creating a risk – encouraging them to pay for this – if they didn’t want to stay and self-isolate.

‘But the communication is out there for them to be aware of it. They’d be told on board their transport to the island, but it’s also their responsibility to know.’

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said it was conceivable that travellers would abuse the new phase by failing to state all of the countries they have visited, for example stating they had visited only a Group B country, which would put them in the seven-day testing category, rather than a Group A country, which would mean 14 days of self-isolation.

‘I think some people will take advantage of it, though it’ll also make travel easier for some people, but this is part of a process,’ she said.

‘We’re always looking to move further and we’ll monitor the number of infections we pick up and then, based on the data we gather, we’ll move on towards the next phase.’

In addition, there will be some exceptions.

‘For Group A countries seven days prior to entering the border it would be two weeks self-isolation. However, if they drove through the country from a Group B country and didn’t get out it would be referred to Public Health to do a detailed risk assessment,’ said Dr Brink.

‘So, if a person tells us they stopped at a shop to buy something then they would essentially have visited a Group A country, but it could be Group B categorisation if not.

‘We have always had a good relationship with the population of the Bailiwick, though, and people are honest and we trust them to give us the right information.

‘That trust has been justified as people really have pulled together.’

Comment Page 10