Further changes are being made to the island’s COVID-19 testing strategy and guidance for positive cases, as part of the continued and planned de-escalation of measures. The changes will come into effect from Sunday (1st May).
Please read the media release below as it explains the latest guidance for:
If you’re over the age of 75, or are immunosuppressed, and you’ve received an invite to get a spring booster you are now able to book a vaccine appointment at your GP practice as an alternative to the Community Vaccination Centre. You can of course still book to have your jab at the CVC if you would prefer.
The team running the vaccination programme have been working closely with colleagues in Primary Care (the three GP practices) with the private providers taking on a larger role in the programme in recent months. Primary Care initially focused on the immunosuppressed cohort and care home residents, but now have capacity to vaccinate remaining over-75s who have not yet booked in for their spring booster.
Anyone who has already booked an appointment to receive their booster at the CVC is asked to keep it in place.
Falling Bailiwick Covid case numbers and associated PEH staff absences due to Covid has enabled HSC to remove most of the restrictions on visitors to the hospital.
Since 15 March patients in the PEH have only been allowed one visit by one person each visiting session, other than a few exceptions. From today, patients on the majority of wards will no longer be limited to just one visitor. The exception to this will be if circumstances on a particular ward require there to be temporary restrictions in place.
Education has provided updated guidance for schools on COVID-19 mitigations that will be in place after the upcoming Easter holidays. These represent a further relaxation of some of the measures that have been in place.
When education returns after the Easter holidays, there will be no routine surveillance testing taking place across settings. Students and staff are still encouraged to take an LFT if they are symptomatic.
However, all students and staff are asked to take an LFT the day before they return to schools after Easter and another on the day of return.
Face coverings are still expected in certain situations, such as on school transport and in secondary and post-16 classrooms, just for the first week back, as precautionary measures.
The Covid testing tent at the PEH is being taken down this week, culminating two years of mass PCR testing.
Senior HSC representatives joined several members of the scheduling and testing teams in the tent on Tuesday (29 March) to recognise their collective efforts in delivering more than 200,000 PCR tests since the beginning of the pandemic.
Further changes are being made to the island’s COVID-19 testing strategy as we to continue moving forward while living responsibly with the virus.
The changes will come into effect from this Friday (1st April).
Education has provided updated guidance for schools that enable the relaxation of some of the enhanced measures currently in place.
The updated guidance, which came into effect this morning, includes:
The Committee for Health & Social Care has again agreed to align the Bailiwick’s vaccination programme with the UK’s, following recent advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in relation to 5 to 11 year olds.
Ahead of the Easter holidays, Islanders are being reminded to check the requirements of any jurisdictions they are visiting.
While the Bailiwick no longer has specific COVID-related travel requirements in place, many other places do and in some cases they can still change at relatively short notice.
If you need to demonstrate your vaccination status when travelling, your digital certificate including a 2d barcode is still available online through your Travel Tracker account. This can be downloaded and printed off. It will contain your latest vaccination information. More information can be found at https://covid19.gov.gg/guidance/vaccine/passports.
Importantly, travellers should note that some jurisdictions may ask for proof of a booster vaccine. If you have not yet had your booster, and you intend to have it before travelling, please note confirmation of your booster will not appear in your digital vaccination certificate until 14 days after you receive your booster. Separate paper certificates will not be issued for your booster.
Islanders over the age of 75 and those who are immunosuppressed are to be offered a spring booster after the Committee for Health & Social Care agreed to follow latest guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Letters are being sent to those who are eligible once they are six months post their most recent vaccine dose. Some of the most vulnerable islanders are eligible in March but most in this cohort will be invited for a booster dose during the coming months.
