New measures to tackle ‘large wave’ of Omicron
WORKING from home guidance has been issued, the States school term is ending early, and the booster programme has been scaled up, as the authorities warned last night of the potential for a ‘large wave’ of Omicron cases.
At last night’s Covid-19 press conference, the Civil Contingencies Authority said the ‘top priority’ was to deliver the booster programme as quickly as possible, and it aims to get the majority of over-18s vaccinated and boosted by mid-January.
Yesterday there were six confirmed Omicron cases in the Bailiwick and Dr Nicola Brink, the director of Public Health, said ‘almost certainly’ there was now some community transmission of the variant locally. Overall the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Bailiwick dropped again, and there were three people in hospital.
A further mitigation announced last night to ‘flatten the curve’ of Omicron was the legal requirement to wear a mask extended to cinemas, theatres, concert venues, and places of worship. However, face coverings will not be mandatory in pubs, clubs and restaurants, though proprietors have been urged to ask their clientele to do lateral flow tests.
Deputy Peter Ferbrache, the chairman of the CCA, said it did not want to shut down businesses and wanted everyone to have a good Christmas.
‘This next wave, which we’re expecting to be here soon, will be bigger and will test us, it will test our ability to live responsibly with Covid,' he said.
'We don’t want to bring in measures that will shut down our island, we realise how tough that would be for people after two previous lockdowns.
‘But we’re also wanting to avoid a situation where the sheer number of cases alone shuts down the Bailiwick.’
Despite the challenges the mood of the panel at last night’s press conference was calm, and confidence was expressed in the Princess Elizabeth Hospital’s ability to cope.
Dr Brink reminded the online audience that the population was highly vaccinated, there was a wide-ranging testing programme, and ‘very effective contact tracing’.
She added that there were ‘encouraging reports’ that Omicron was a milder infection than previous variants, but the stance was to take proactive measures in a pragmatic way.
‘I think we need to be honest and transparent with islanders,' she said.
'I think we will see a significant increase in cases and these may come in quite fast, so we are planning to see far more cases on a daily basis.’
One easing of restrictions was announced, that contacts of Omicron cases will no longer have to isolate for 10 days. Instead they will have to observe the ‘passive follow-up’ rules.
