Dr Ivan Muscat gave a media briefing yesterday in which he said that officials were keeping ‘a close eye’ on the Covid-19 position in France, but that active case levels remained far lower than in mainland Spain.
Dr Muscat was speaking in the wake of the weekend decision to reclassify mainland Spain as an amber territory, meaning those arriving in Jersey having spent time in the country – including transit – must self-isolate for up to a week and register two negative swab-test results.
Jersey is working to an upper threshold of 25 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days for green status, Dr Muscat said, with Spain’s latest figure standing at 35 cases, with some regions in the north-east being far higher.
But the two main groups of Spanish islands had much lower rates, he added, quoting figures of 11.5 for the Balearic Islands, including Majorca, and 5.8 for the Canary Islands.
‘The Spanish islands have their own airports and this means they can be much easily “disentangled” from the mainland,’ he said.
The latest figure for France is 14.6, with Brittany and Normandy both being monitored but not currently causing major concern, Dr Muscat said.
Belgium, with a latest figure of 27, was being watched closely, and was ‘likely’ to be moved from green to amber status, he added.
Four countries in western Europe are currently ranked amber – mainland Portugal, Andorra, mainland Spain and Sweden – while Luxembourg is classed as red due to being above the amber/red threshold of 120.
Asked whether Islanders should continue with or cancel plans to visit the Spanish mainland, Dr Muscat said:
‘People need to bear in mind the risk that pertains to the region they are going to, their state of health – such as whether they have any underlying conditions – and take into account the type of activity they are planning, whether it will involve being indoors in close proximity to others or not, and make a personal decision,’ he said.
A regional approach to some countries had been discussed, Dr Muscat admitted, but he said this was less straightforward than the ‘easy’ distinction between the Spanish islands and the mainland.
The UK, with a latest figure from the European Centre for Disease Control of 14.7 cases per 100,000, is currently considered as a single entity by Jersey, but Dr Muscat said separation into England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland might occur at a future stage.
Meanwhile, the number of known active cases of Covid-19 in Jersey increased to four as a result of latest testing data released yesterday.
Two more arrivals at Jersey Airport tested positive, meaning that a total of seven air and sea passengers were confirmed as carrying the virus – 12,300 people have been tested at the ports since the Island’s borders opened on 3 July.
All the current cases are asymptomatic, and in self-isolation, with no one requiring hospital treatment.
