Nervous family reunion on first day of travel with no self-isolation
UNVACCINATED travellers were able to travel into the Bailiwick without needing to quarantine yesterday for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Arrivals who have been only in the Common Travel Area in the previous 10 days no longer have to have a PCR test or self-isolate, but do still have to self-administer a lateral flow test.
The easing meant many were able to travel in and out of the island to see family with few restrictions.
Travelling from Worcestershire were Susan and John Moore, who were making the trip to visit their son for the first time in two years.
‘We did hesitate a bit, everything was putting us off going through, but we’re both vaccinated now and we’ve had a booster shot.
‘We haven’t been in an airport in so long and it all feels strange standing this close to people,’ said Mrs Moore.
All travellers arriving in the Bailiwick are required to create a travel tracker account to register their journey 48 hours before arrival.
Some travellers arriving from France a week on Sunday found themselves waiting in a queue for three hours after the app developed a fault.
‘It’s our first time using it, it was complicated to use,’ said Mrs Moore.
‘We’ve got our paper documents but no one asked to see them at all, although we did get through a lot quicker than we expected to.’
Although the new regulations stipulate that most travellers do not need to self-isolate upon arrival, Saints Bay Hotel restaurant manager Molla Husain decided to impose an isolation period for an unvaccinated employee who arrived from Bangladesh yesterday.
The country moved to the UK’s amber list on 22 September.
‘Those who are unvaccinated should have a minimum isolation,’ he said.
‘We won’t be taking him directly to the hotel, he will quarantine for a few days for our own consciences – we have old people there who are mostly vaccinated but we still don’t know they’re safe.’
