Over 200 tests took place at the East Arm testing facility in the first week, significantly reducing the pressure on the hospital testing facility and waiting times for patients. The drop-in sessions at the East Arm have been extended for an additional week until 10th December, with the revised opening times between 08.30am - 10.15am Monday to Friday.
Countries placed on the UK’s red list today at midday will also be treated as red list countries for the purpose of travel to the Bailiwick. These countries are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
This action is being taken as a precautionary response to the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529 which is currently considered a Variant Under Investigation by the UK Health Security Agency.
More than 37,000 lateral flow testing packs – about 925,000 individual tests – have been distributed to the public since they were made widely available on 18th October.
Packs continue to be available for collection from the Guernsey Information Centre between 9am-3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10am-2pm on Saturdays should islanders be running low, but we would again ask that people do not stockpile LFT packs.
From Monday 22nd November, the East Arm testing facility will be holding regular PCR testing 'drop-in' sessions, specifically for anyone who has tested positive on a Lateral Flow Device and is aged 12 or over.
The Civil Contingencies Authority has agreed today that the use of face coverings should not be made mandatory but should continue to be strongly recommended in certain settings including:
This morning the UK Government announced that it would be accepting the advice of the JCVI to:
Following this announcement, we are working with the clinical teams to ensure those islanders who are in the groups announced this morning are identified and receive their second dose or booster dose accordingly.
In the meantime, we would like to remind islanders that they should not attend the Community Vaccination Centre if they are unwell and, if they have recently been diagnosed with COVID-19, they should wait 28 days from the date of their positive diagnosis before they book an appointment.
Parents, carers and visitors to education settings are being asked to wear face coverings whenever they are on school grounds.
This includes pick-up and drop-off, and when attending any events hosted by education settings.
The States of Guernsey will now be advising visitors to its public buildings that they must wear a face covering. This is to support the strong recommendation by the Civil Contingencies Authority (CCA) to help mitigate the spread of the virus.
We don’t want COVID to control our lives, so let’s take control of COVID - Open Letter to the Bailiwick from the Civil Contingencies Authority.
From next week, LFT packs will be available for collection from the Guernsey Information Centre between 9am-3pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10am-2pm on Saturdays only. From Tuesday 2nd November we will be asking for details of those collecting LFTs so we can collate data on usage and help us manage supplies going forward.
