Island clamps down on travellers from Jersey
INTER-ISLAND travel takes a step backwards from today after the Civil Contingencies Authority changed policy and increased controls on travellers from Jersey in what it called a ‘public health override’.
Just a day after leaving the door open for such a move, under questioning from fellow deputies in the States, CCA chairman Peter Ferbrache announced a ‘temporary measure’ as case numbers continue to climb in Jersey.
Arrivals from Jersey from today need a test on arrival and to isolate until a negative result. From Monday they will need to present a negative PCR test before travelling. Jersey had 1,876 active Covid cases yesterday, with more than 10,000 direct contacts.
The States feared that nearly 10% of Jersey arrivals could be a direct contact of a positive case.
‘We have been carefully monitoring prevalence levels, travel numbers and other factors for all regions in the Common Travel Area, mindful that we may need to apply a public health override if there were particular cause for concern,’ said Deputy Ferbrache.
‘In the case of Jersey, we can see the high number of cases combined with the policy on direct contacts has the potential to mean a rise in the risk of importing significant numbers of cases.
‘This decision is in no way a criticism of Jersey’s strategy.
‘Jersey’s situation is different to ours and they are making decisions appropriate to their unique circumstances.
‘However, Guernsey’s strategy is dependent on carefully managing increased travel, identifying cases and clusters at risk of spreading further and keeping them under control. That’s been effective for us so far with our case numbers low, numbers in self-isolation also low, and no hospitalisations, more than two weeks since we relaxed our border policy.
‘But we must still tread with some caution and apply proportionate measures where we see the greatest risks, as we continue to manage our way forward.’
Travellers who likely to be affected by the change and unclear on their next steps have been advised to contact the Travel Tracker helpline on 717118 or travel.tracker@gov.gg.
n Covid cases in the Isle of Man nearly doubled in the past 24 hours, leaping by 115 to 298 active cases. The island introduced a change in contact rules so that 800 of 900 identified close contacts are no longer isolating.
