Isolation scrapped for unvaccinated UK and Jersey arrivals from October

The announcement forms part of a shake-up of Guernsey's travel rules, which will come in two stages.

From Thursday anyone with proof of receiving a recognised vaccine from anywhere in the world will see their restrictions upon arriving in the Bailiwick relaxed.

Covid positive cases will also need to quarantine for only10 days, rather than two weeks.

Then from Monday 4 October all travel from the Common Travel Area – which is the United Kingdom, Ireland, Jersey and the Isle of Man – will be treated as blue arrivals, regardless of vaccination status.

They will still need to purchase and complete a course of lateral flow tests, but there will be no other restrictions.

The Bailiwick will apply its highest level of restrictions to arrivals coming directly from countries on the UK’s red list, without passing through the UK. These arrivals will need to carry out a self-swab PCR test on arrival at the port and self-isolate until they take a second PCR test on day nine and receive a negative result.

Travellers coming from a red list country into the UK will need to complete their 10-day quarantine there, in line with UK rules, before travelling to the Bailiwick. They would then arrive in Guernsey as blue arrivals.

For all other countries, travel requirements will depend on whether or not the traveller is fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated non-CTA arrivals will only be required to take a self-swab PCR test on arrival at the port, but will not be required to self-isolate. Unvaccinated non-CTA arrivals will need to take a self-swab PCR test on arrival at the port, and self-isolate until they take a second PCR test on day eight and receive a negative result.

All arrivals will still need to complete the online travel tracker 48 hours or less before their journey. From 4 October, the period of time treated as the traveller’s relevant travel history will be reduced from 14 to 10 days.

Civil Contingencies Authority chairman Peter Ferbrache said since the initial relaxation of rules in July, thousands of people have been able to reconnect and travel numbers were rising.

But Covid cases have remained relatively low.

'It’s not been an easy transition, but on the whole it has been a successful one,' he said.

'This next change in our travel rules means even fewer restrictions but it is still not travel as it was in pre-Covid times. It may be a long time before we get back to that, and people should be aware of the additional checks and additional form-filling that we require. Travelling to most other places is also less straightforward compared to pre-Covid times and anyone intending to travel should ensure they know what to expect.'

This Thursday will also see changes to how contacts are identified.

Anyone aged 18 or under who is a contact will not be required to self-isolate regardless of their vaccination status. Anyone aged 19 or over who is fully vaccinated will not be required to self-isolate, but will need to do lateral flow testing and have a PCR test. Anyone aged 19 or over who is not fully vaccinated will need to self-isolate for 10 days if they are a contact. They will need to undertake a PCR test and will also be offered lateral flow testing.

There may be exceptional cases that require a variation of these requirements.