Guernsey has relaxed its Common Travel Area border testing requirements, effective today (Wednesday 19th January), while also announcing that other measures will be further eased from Monday (24th January).
- Common Travel Area border testing requirements relaxed from today (00.01am Wednesday 19th January 2022)
- Relaxation of self-isolation requirements and work from home advice, both effective from Monday 24th January 2022
Numbers of known Covid-19 cases have dropped significantly in recent days as the Bailiwick has seen a sharp peak during the current wave followed by a steep decline. As such, Guernsey’s Civil Contingencies Authority (CCA) is determined to de-escalate mitigations that have been in place, which have supported the community’s efforts to manage the current wave, as soon as possible but in a proportionate and staged approach.
In addition to the changes announced today, the CCA has committed to reviewing remaining measures at its meeting next week before then outlining its plans to further reduce or remove them.
Changes effective 19th January 2022
In line with its announcement last week, the CCA has today confirmed that border restrictions in place from 00.01am tomorrow (Wednesday 19th January) are:
- No testing or isolation requirements for travellers coming from the Common Travel Area (the UK, Isle of Man, Jersey and the Republic of Ireland).
- A Lateral Flow Test on the day of arrival for non-Common Travel Area travellers who are fully vaccinated (replacing the current requirement for a PCR test on arrival).
- Maintain the current requirement of a PCR test on arrival and on day 8, with isolation until a negative result on the day 8 test, for non-Common Travel Area arrivals who are not fully vaccinated.
Anyone due to arrive from within the Common Travel Area who has already completed the Travel Tracker and therefore paid £25 for a pack of LFTs is advised they can submit a request for a refund here.
Changes effective Monday 24th January 2022
The CCA has today decided that, effective from Monday 24th January 2022, it will:
- Remove the current work from home guidance.
- Reduce the period self-isolation for Covid-19 positive cases to six days, as long as the positive case is symptom-free and has negative lateral flow tests on Day 5 and Day 6.
Following yesterday’s meeting, Deputy Peter Ferbrache (pictured), Chair of the Civil Contingencies Authority, said : “We’ve seen a very encouraging steep drop in positive cases in recent days and, while we also greet such good news with a degree of caution based on how quickly things can change, it has further enhanced the CCA’s collective view that we can and should begin to remove measures in a steady and sensible way. I hope that today’s announcement will be welcome news for the community and I want to thank everyone for the high-levels of uptake we see on the mitigations in place as by-and large people continue to want to do the right thing.
“We announced last week our intention to ease border restrictions from tomorrow and I’m pleased to say that decision was confirmed at our meeting today. This largely brings us in line with the UK’s border restrictions. But we also looked at internal measures and discussed at length what further changes we could make to ease the
impact COVID-19 has on people’s lives. I’m sure a further reduction in self-isolation requirements, provided certain criteria are met, will be welcome news for many and we have also decided to remove our guidance for people to work from home wherever possible – both of those changes come into effect from Monday just to
allow a little more time to hopefully see a further reduction in case numbers.
“Additionally, members of the CCA recognise that we need to provide the community with as much certainty as possible about our “end game” plans. What I mean by that is when we can plan, as reasonably as possible, to further reduce or remove the remaining mitigations which the CCA has imposed for the purposes of dealing with
this global public health emergency. Many within the community have asked whether the Bailiwick needs to continue relying on emergency powers to manage Covid-19 in the context of a highly vaccinated population. This is what we will consider next week.
“Whatever the CCA decides, I think it’s important for all of us to recognise that Covid is here to stay for the foreseeable future. That means that even in the absence of mandated restrictions, we will all need to continue living responsibly with the virus and that will mean continuing to do the right things – for example following any face covering guidance, taking regular LFTs and staying at home when unwell. The single most powerful defence we have against the variants of Covid-19 in the Bailiwick right now is our booster programme, so I’ll take this opportunity to remind people over the age of 18 to please get their booster if they haven’t already done so.”
