‘No reason for wider public to worry’
THE risk to the wider community following a positive Covid-19 test by someone who had arrived in Guernsey is ‘extremely low’, the director of Public Health has said.
Specific details of the infected person are not being given to respect the patient’s privacy.
But anyone who was deemed to be in significant contact with the person on their journey to the island will have been contacted by Public Health.
Anyone else has no reason to be concerned that they may have been affected, Dr Nicola Brink stressed.
‘I want to assure the public that the person complied with all of the relevant requirements and anyone identified in the contact tracing procedures to have had significant contact with the person would have been contacted and asked to go into self-isolation,’ she said.
This is to reduce any onward transmission of the virus.
Public Health is not seeing the appearance of a case to be a setback, rather it has proven that the test, track and trace procedure is working effectively.
‘We were always expecting another case, and just like we were prepared for the virus to reach Guernsey the first time, we were ready and waiting for this one,’ Dr Brink explained.
‘This shows our systems are working and we can identify cases rapidly.’
It was emphasised how important it is for anyone coming to the island to comply with the self-isolation and testing requirements in order to protect the community and reduce any onward transmission.
The arrival of a new case in the island has not affected the plans for a move to Phase 5c of the easing of lockdown restrictions, as health authorities are consistently evaluating how to best mitigate the risks associated with relaxing Guernsey’s border restrictions.
