CCA to discuss stage two today
STAGE TWO of Guernsey’s exit from lockdown will be discussed today, but the island will not be rushing, Civil Contingencies Authority chairman Peter Ferbrache has said.
Guernsey moved into stage one at the start of this week, with small numbers of people allowed to return to work under strict conditions.
Active case numbers have fallen to 37, with one new one confirmed yesterday from an unknown source.
‘We’re moving in the right direction, at last,’ Deputy Ferbrache said.
‘It’s been incredibly difficult. We’ve made good progress. We’re on our third day in Guernsey in stage one. We want to move as quickly as we reasonably can to stage two. But we can only do that if people do what they are supposed to do.’
He highlighted that there was an unknown community source case earlier this week and new cases were still being found, although the numbers were low.
Deputy Ferbrache said these cases must be under control before the island can move forward.
He confirmed the CCA was starting to discuss stage two and there was a CCA meeting today.
‘It’s going to be some time before we unravel, but we want to unravel it and move into stage two as quickly as possible,’ he said.
Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said things were looking good currently.
‘We just need to focus on these off-community cases that we are getting and make sure we understand them and we can stop any onward transmission from those cases,’ she said.
‘But all the parameters are looking hopeful.’
Unlike the UK, Guernsey does not have a road map to the end of all restrictions. Deputy Ferbrache said documents such as that were pointless as they had resulted in other governments having to then change direction when matters have changed.
‘We don’t want to give people false hope,’ he said.
‘When we say something, we want to be able to be as confident as we reasonably can be that that will be able to be achieved.’
The other islands will not necessarily move at the same pace at Guernsey. Alderney has so far had just one case of Covid-19 and Sark has had none.
Deputy Ferbrache confirmed that Sark will move into stage two today. This means that most public-facing businesses can now operate, up to 30 people can meet and restaurants and pubs can operate table service.
He added that he hoped Sark might move to stage three next Thursday.
