Covid latest: CCA hopes to relax rules at the borders within days

Thursday 13 January 2022

The Civil Contingencies Authority is reviewing the rules on testing for covid-19 at the Bailiwick's borders with the aim of relaxing restrictions next week.

The number of known active cases of covid-19 has been falling in recent days. Late yesterday there were 1,524 cases - around a thousand fewer than at the peak. The Authority hopes this trend will continue and allow it to make substantial changes to rules on those entering the Bailiwick.

The Authority wants to remove all testing for travellers from the Common Travel Area. And it wants to replace PCR tests with lateral flow tests for vaccinated travellers from outside the Common Travel Area. 

But the Authority plans to continue to require PCR tests and immediate isolation until a negative test eight days later for travellers from outside the Common Travel Area who are not fully vaccinated. 

Pictured: The latest testing results, published late on Wednesday afternoon, once again included more recoveries than new infections. 

The Authority will meet on Tuesday next week, 18 January, and make a final decision about whether to change the rules at the borders. If the rules are changed as the Authority hopes, the Bailiwick will be back in line with the UK's travel testing requirements. 

“We’re encouraged to see case numbers coming down already following the arrival of omicron, which has resulted in more active cases than we’ve previously seen at any other point in this pandemic,” said the Chairman of the Authority, Deputy Peter Ferbrache.

“The restrictions, both domestically and at the borders, are relatively light touch compared to the more severe steps we’ve had to take earlier in the pandemic, and compared to what many other jurisdictions are doing now, because we have sought to allow life and business to continue with as much normality as possible. 

“But even if the current restrictions are relatively few, we must not keep them in place for any longer than is absolutely necessary. So for that reason we have begun to plan how and when we can remove them. 

Pictured: Deputy Peter Ferbrache and other members of the Civil Contingencies Authority will decide early next week whether the Bailiwick's wave of omicron cases of covid-19 has retreated sufficiently to allow rules at the borders to be liberalised. 

“I’m wary of making promises prematurely, mindful of how unpredictable this pandemic has been so far, but we want islanders to know what we’re discussing in the Authority.

“I’m hopeful that, following our next meeting, we will be able to provide some positive news about relaxing testing requirements at the borders and a bit more clarity on how quickly other measures can also be relaxed.”