Rapid spread points to threat of Covid variant

The update comes as a deep clean takes place at St Sampson’s Co-op Grande Marche, where at least four cases have been directly linked with the supermarket cluster.

Vaccinations have continued despite the outbreak, with 8,400 doses given as of Friday.

The second outbreak began on 22 January, when four cases, with no clear source, were detected. This quickly grew to 142 active cases within a week. Numbers continued rising over the weekend. The original source of the outbreak is still unknown.

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said they were still awaiting results from the UK about whether the more-transmissible variant was here.

‘I do suspect this could be the new variant, based on how it’s behaving and how fast the spread has occurred,’ she said.

Hundreds of islanders went into self-isolation over the weekend, after confirmation that at least one case was clearly linked to Dance Festival, although Dr Brink said there may be more.

The numbers in self-isolation are straining essential public services.

States chief executive Paul Whitfield said all services had been hit by the need to self-isolate or by falling ill.

‘The police have also been impacted by this as well,’ he said.

Guernsey’s medical director Dr Peter Rabey said they were only doing emergency operations this week due to staffing levels, but he hoped more operations could be done next week.

Essential worker testing is now up and running on the East Arm and 177 were tested on Sunday to ensure essential services and retail can operate safely.

There are currently five people in hospital, who have tested positive for Covid-19. They range in age from their 40s to their 80s. One is in ICU, while the rest are in Brock Ward, which has been turned over to just coronavirus cases.

However, there is also good news.

The number of cases that come from unknown community seeding has been dropping. On Friday, 16 of the 44 positive cases were from community seeding. By Sunday, just seven of the 46 cases were from unknown sources.

‘That’s exactly the trend we want to see,’ Dr Brink said.

The contact tracing team is seeing a decreasing number of contacts as time goes on, as the lockdown has helped keep people physically apart.

Dr Brink said it was very important for people to come forward for a test if they are showing any coronavirus symptoms.

Schools are staying closed to all this week, but there are hopes they will reopen to the vulnerable children and children of essential workers next week, despite it being half term.

No cases have been detected in Sark or Alderney.