Indication of further community seeding

Sunday 24 January 2021

Contact tracing and further testing have uncovered another 27 positive cases of the corona virus, with two potential new community cases and another school being looked into.

The island went straight into lockdown yesterday following the sudden emergence of four cases of community seeding on Friday night.

Public Health Director Dr Nicola Brink said seven new cases were identified on Saturday - six through contact tracing and one new community case. 

Further testing took place overnight - which will not show in today's published figures - which revealed a further 20 positive cases. 19 of those came through contact tracing and one was a further community case.

One of the positive cases was a year 8 pupil at St Sampson's School, while 300 people have contacted the authorities after the States asked anyone who attended the Ship & Crown or the Crow's Nest between 18 and 20 January to email testresults@gov.gg.

Pictured: Dr Brink expects the number of cases to rise further before they begin to decline. 

Another school has been linked to the new cases, however it has not yet been named. Dr Brink simply said that "we have identified another school of interest" and that Public Health is contacting people who may be affected. The positive cases so far range from very young children to elderly people. 

There have not been any cases in care homes, but there are two in hospital.

Meanwhile, regulations are being drawn up so that new community restrictions - which are the same as they were for last year's lockdown - are legally enforceable. 

"We are not trying to reinvent the wheel," said Deputy Heidi Soulsby. "We have done this before and we can do this again."

Payroll co-funding for businesses and sole traders is reportedly being set up, with further discussions early next week about the financial cost of lockdown, after the island recorded a £60m deficit in 2020 as a result of the spring lockdown.