Positive case sees two M&S shops deep cleaned
JUST three community seeded cases were found among the 21 new Covid-19 cases reported yesterday, as the number of active cases rose to 346.
However two Marks & Spencer Simply Food shops have been shut for deep cleans after a worker tested positive.
The number of new daily cases was one of the lowest since the start of lockdown.
There was also good news in how they were found, with 18 of them uncovered through contact tracing.
Six people with Covid-19 are in hospital, an increase of one.
It is nearly two weeks since Guernsey went into a hard lockdown, with non-essential businesses and schools shut and islanders strongly encouraged to wear masks.
Today at 1pm, at the third of this week’s press conferences, an announcement will be made if there are to be any changes to the restrictions.
Targeted testing of essential workers has been taking place.
An M&S worker, who so far has been asymptomatic, was found to be positive.
That person had worked at the St Martin’s and L’Islet shops in the last 14 days, so both were closed for deep cleans.
All other staff have been invited for testing.
States chief executive Paul Whitfield said the testing facility on the East Arm had been working well.
‘These two stores will be deep cleaned and reopened as soon as it is safe to do so,’ he said.
‘And that’s important too, because we want to maintain a good number of food retailers open at any one time so people aren’t having to all go to a handful of locations for their essential supplies.’
Customers of the affected stores do not need to self-isolate unless they are contacted by the contact tracing team.
Islanders have been following the recent circuit breaker in the Isle of Man with interest, in the hope Guernsey’s lockdown might be equally successful and brief. The Manx government implemented a circuit breaker lockdown on 7 January after seven new cases were found.
Numbers rose sharply from there, topping out at 53 active cases on 18 January.The numbers had dropped steadily to 11 by the start of February and here have been no unexplained community seeded cases for more than two weeks.
The lockdown ended earlier this week.
However it is unclear which variant the other island’s outbreak involved.
Local officials have grown increasingly certain that Guernsey is facing a more infectious Covid-19 variant, such as the Kent one, due to the way the illness has spread.
Jersey has just reopened non-essential shops after a drop in cases. It was confirmed yesterday that the Kent variant is present in its community.
The Guernsey outbreak has increased attention on people self-isolating after returning to the island. Currently people can travel here only if they are granted a permit by Public Health.
Bailiwick Law Enforcement confirmed it was monitoring 250 people in self-isolation. This is a drop from 381 at the end of January.
Hundreds of islanders are isolating after being in contact with people who have tested positive. However at least one group will be free today.
Anyone who attended the dance festival at Beau Sejour was asked to self-isolate for 14 days from their last visit.
The last batch were released from quarantine at midnight last night.
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