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The Civil Contingencies Authority has agreed to reintroduce country and regional categorisation for travellers to the Bailiwick from 23 April.
The CCA will reintroduce a very similar system to the one in place at the beginning of the year through country and regional classification, however it will do so in a phased approach.
Currently all destinations are treated as ‘Category 4’. This means all arrivals must test on their day of arrival and on day 13. They must self-isolate until they receive negative results from both tests, and if they decline to take one of the tests, they must self-isolate for 21 days.
From 23 April, ‘Category 3’ countries and regions will be reintroduced. This means any country (or in the case of travel to the UK, any region) with a prevalence below 100 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population, which also satisfies other Public Health criteria, can be considered Category 3.
Arrivals from Category 3 destinations are tested on arrival and on day 7, and must self-isolate until they receive a negative result from both tests. They must continue to observe ‘passive follow-up’ rules for a further 7 days. Again, if they decline to have one of the two tests, they must self-isolate for 21 days.
Pictured: Deputy Ferbrache: "We still intend to reduce travel restrictions further in July, by which time we hope to have the vast majority of adults in the Bailiwick protected with one, if not two, doses of the vaccine."
Tests will be charged at £25 each from 14 May, the CCA has also confirmed. This is the same date on which ‘Category 2’ destinations will be introduced, applying to destinations with a prevalence of below 30 cases per 100,000.
Category 2 travellers will be tested twice, on arrival and on day 7, but they will only need to self-isolate until their first result comes back negative. They can then leave their self-isolation and observe ‘passive follow-up’ rules until 14 days after their arrival.
“We are taking the first steps in significantly reopening our borders, and we do so with the intention of not closing them again," said CCA Chairman Peter Ferbrache.
"We cannot guarantee that, as we know this pandemic can throw up surprises, but given the progress of our vaccination programme we believe this can and will be a one-way journey towards more open borders.
"We still intend to reduce travel restrictions further in July, by which time we hope to have the vast majority of adults in the Bailiwick protected with one, if not two, doses of the vaccine."
"When that happens our focus in terms of travel requirements will switch to look more at vaccination levels rather than prevalence levels of the virus as is currently the case. So in that respect I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of our very strict border restrictions, and a move towards what will be a more normal way of life going forward."
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