"Things start to turn a corner"

Tuesday 21 April 2020

More than 100 people in Guernsey have now recovered from corona virus, while things are finally starting to look up in the affected care homes too.

Patients are considered to be recovered when, after 14 days, their throat and nose swabs come back negative.

Of the 239 confirmed cases in the island, 112 have now been declared free of the virus. That includes five of the nine confirmed children under the age of 18, as well as 40 of the staff and residents in local care homes which have been hit hard by the pandemic over the last few weeks.

"It's had a big impact in two of the homes and I know the homes have been working incredibly hard to get on top of everything," said Medical Director for Health & Social Care, Dr Peter Rabey.

Pictured: Dr Peter Rabey.

"As staff get better from covid, they are able to get back to work. In Care Home One, as I call it, they've got eight staff coming back who have been trained by HSC in dealing with covid patients, and nine new staff who have also been trained by HSC before going to work in that home.

"There are really positive efforts there as things start to turn a corner."

But, we still have a long way to go yet before the island can return to 'normal'.

"Over the weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday, we had no new cases, so that was really encouraging," added Director of Public Health, Dr Nicola Brink. "However, I wouldn't want us to become complacent. We've got a long road to go and we need to make sure that we continue with all of our efforts."

Guernsey's covid-19 statistics are updated daily at gov.gg/coronavirus.