Hundreds arrive into Bailiwick ports over the weekend, but no new Covid cases found

With Aurigny offering extra flights from regional airports to allow students and other people to travel to the island to quarantine in time for Christmas, 879 people travelled into the Bailiwick.

Arrivals were offered the chance to have a test of arrival. However the tests are not mandatory.

Public Health confirmed that 710 people - 81% of the travellers - opted for the test when they arrived at the airport or harbour, all of which came back negative.

Of the 169 individuals who did not take a day one test, some were children under 12, while some others were unable to take a test.

Unless they have an exemption, all arrivals into the island must quarantine for 14 days, even if they have a negative test result on arrival.

Travel Tracker programme director Richard Evans said the teams processing travellers had worked extremely hard over the weekend to cope with the spike in travellers coming home for Christmas and New Year.

He added that people must self-isolate.

'We know that this is challenging and we thank them to sticking to the rules and working with us to keep the Bailiwick safe this winter.' he said.

Director of Public Health, Dr Nicola Brink, said the pathology laboratory team processed 839 Covid-19 samples over the weekend alongside all of their other diagnostic work, and some swabs from late on Sunday were still being processed.

'The fact that we have not identified any positive results from these 839 tests tells me that travellers from the UK have been complying with the Covid-19 restrictions where they were living which is excellent news for the Bailiwick,' she said.

'Once again, I would like to thank returning students for their continued cooperation - this is really appreciated. We now need those returning travellers to respect the self-isolation requirements imposed on them for 14 days. I know it is difficult, but it is necessary to ensure we can continue to work and socialise in our Bailiwick bubble.'