18 days with no new cases and move to end of lockdown confirmed

Today marks 18 days with no new cases of Covid-19 found in the Bailiwick.

Chair of the Civil Contingencies Authority Deputy Peter Ferbrache confirmed that the islands would move to Stage 3 of the exit from lockdown - the 'Bailiwick Bubble' - on Monday 22 March.

This means quarantine-free travel can resume within the Bailiwick islands of Herm, Alderney and Sark.

Talking about why the move was not made earlier, he said: 'This horrible virus can take up to 14 days to incubate and we've not been in Stage 2 yet for 14 days so we just wanted to be absolutely certain - because we don't want to move backwards - that all is well.'

Something 'quite extraordinary' would have to happen for the Bailiwick to not move to Stage 3 on Monday.

'Even when we're back and operating with our internal economy going strong we're going to need to exercise common sense,' he said.

Non-essential travel will resume from Monday, with a 14-day isolation period remaining a requirement. People will need to have a negative Covid test on their 13th day of isolation to be allowed back into the community.

Vice-president of Policy & Resources Deputy Heidi Soulsby said life would be 'pretty much' back to normal from Monday as restrictions are lifted.

'In many ways it will feel like it did before those four cases were identified at the end of January,' she said.

'All pubs and nightclubs will be able to open and team sports of any kind can go ahead.'

Some rules will be put in place for gatherings of over 100 people to ensure certain conditions are met for them to go ahead.

The CCA will be finalising these requirements tomorrow and details will be issued on Friday.

'All of the mandatory rules that we introduced for this lockdown will fall away [in Stage 3], but we do want to encourage some good habits.

'The most important of all is to stay at home if you feel unwell with any of the Covid symptoms.'

She asked employers not to pressure staff to go to work if they have symptoms and instead encouraged them to report their symptoms and get tested.

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said today is a really good day, with 18 days of no new infections.

She was not expecting anything untoward to crop up over the next few days while the Bailiwick remains in Stage 2 before moving to Stage 3 on Monday.

'Despite us being in a really good position, if you do have symptoms - however mild - please do come forward for testing,' she said.

'You won't be spoiling any record or making us go backwards, what you will be doing is helping us get on top of any infection if there is residual infection after that.'

Talking about surveillance testing, Dr Brink said the facility at the East Arm has performed beyond expectations.

Since 15 February, a total of over 12,000 surveillance samples have been taken at the East Arm facility.

'The overwhelming majority of those [about one third] were done on education staff and students,' she said.

'This has enabled us to get our schools back and be confident that we don't have residual infection in these groups.

'Other groups that were important were wholesale and retail industries, lots of these people were front-facing.'

Bailiwick Law Enforcement and other administrations were tested, as well as people who were transporting goods around the island.

A total of seven cases were detected during that time from a mix of the targeted groups.

'This surveillance testing has enabled us to detect residual infections and rapidly control them.'

Over that four-week period, between 2,500 and 3,000 samples were being taken per week.

'Our aim [of the vaccination programme] is to hit the "sweet spot" where you have high vaccination coverage and a low circulating virus.

'If we're going to achieve that, we're going to be in a really good way.'

She hoped the Bailiwick would retain the high vaccination coverage that has been seen so far.

'The worst situation we could be in would be low vaccination coverage with a high circulating virus, but at the moment we are very happy with our vaccine uptake.'

In regards to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, she said the UK has seen over 11 million doses of the vaccine administered with no difference in the number of blood clots since the introduction of the vaccination programme.

Looking at local evidence, over 11,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered and no complications relating to blood clots have been seen.

'That's really encouraging for us,' she said.

'The European Medicines Association is saying that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks. They are, of course, doing a review and will publish that data today or tomorrow.

'The MHRA are encouraging people to have their vaccination if they are called in.'

Public Health advice was clear: 'The AstraZeneca vaccine has shown to be effective in preventing severe Covid disease and hospitalisation. If you are called in for a vaccination, do take the opportunity and go ahead.'

New evidence will be considered.

More to follow.