Travellers told not to come to Bailiwick unless it is essential

The Civil Contingencies Authority made the decision at its meeting yesterday following developments in the UK.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday the third national lockdown as daily confirmed cases reached record numbers.

Around one in 50 people in England are estimated to have the virus.

'The measures we have already at our borders have been extremely robust, and have kept our community safe,' said CCA chair Peter Ferbrache.

'The move to essential-only travel does not replace those, all of the existing requirements remain. Travellers must still strictly abide by our self-isolation requirements.

'But if you have a visit to Guernsey planned that is not essential, if you’re planning to spend a bit of time here visiting friends or family or you’re thinking of using Guernsey as a base to work from temporarily when your work isn’t critical to the running of the islands, then my message is this: cancel your plans, do not travel here.

'We know the impact of even one case that enters our community undetected can have a serious impact on the freedoms we currently enjoy. We are not like other jurisdictions who are managing Covid within their communities, we want to preserve the very good position we’re in. We’ve seen how the Isle of Man has had to react, hard and fast, to the identification of just a handful of cases. Personally I commend the swift and decisive action taken by our Manx friends and believe we would do the same, but we want to do everything we reasonably can to avoid that situation.'

New guidance is being published on gov.gg/coronavirus and advice can be sought by calling the COVID-19 non-clinical helpline on 01481 717118.

Legislation will follow to enforce the change.

The CCA met twice this week and monitored developments in the UK daily.

Essential travel means: for a compassionate purpose (including but not limited to supporting a dependent relative); to receive medical treatment; to undertake essential business that cannot be transacted remotely; to attend school, university or other further education, or

for permanent Bailiwick residents, to return home if they are currently off-island; to travel for the purposes of critical work, as an approved critical worker (in line with the existing critical worker application process).

Essential travel does not include travel to visit friends and family based in the Bailiwick.