‘Don’t come here unless it is essential’ says CCA
‘DO NOT travel to the Bailiwick unless it is essential’ was the message from the Civil Contingencies Authority.
The CCA made the announcement yesterday lunchtime having agreed on Thursday that no non-essential travel into the Bailiwick should take place, in light of developments with the coronavirus pandemic in the UK. It comes as cases in the UK reached record numbers, including from the recently-identified new strain of the virus, and the UK introduced its own travel restrictions for travel within the country and movement in and out.
International travellers will need to have had a negative test within 72 hours if they are to be let in – arrivals from Guernsey and other areas in the common travel area are exempt from that.
CCA chairman Peter Ferbrache said despite the measures the island’s borders are currently robust and have kept the community safe. After monitoring the situation in the UK daily, it was felt that more needed to be done on top of what is already in place.
‘Travellers must still strictly abide by our self-isolation requirements,’ he said.
‘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.’
While broadly travel numbers are already low and the UK’s restrictions mean this is likely to reduce further, the CCA believes its decision to move to new, tougher restrictions for ‘essential-only’ travel will provide further security by reducing the risk of the virus being imported into the islands.
‘We know even one case that enters our community undetected can have a serious impact on the freedoms we currently enjoy,’ added Deputy Ferbrache.
‘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.’
Legislation to enforce the change will follow shortly.
n New guidance is being published on gov.gg/coronavirus and advice can be sought by calling the Covid-19 non-clinical helpline on 717118.
