Efforts to make Jersey more self-sufficient for Covid-19 tests come as rising levels of the virus have caused three countries to have their risk levels upgraded by government officials.
From today, passengers who arrive in Jersey having spent time in Belgium, Argentina or the Bahamas during the past fortnight will be subject to self-isolation requirements as a result of being upgraded in the countries’ risk assessment.
As forecast by deputy medical officer of health Dr Ivan Muscat earlier this week, the status of Belgium has risen after the country crossed the upper threshold for green status of 25 active cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days.
The latest Belgian figure, as published by the European Centre for Disease Control yesterday, is 29.3.
The Bahamas also rose from green to amber, while Argentina, hitherto one of the South American countries least affected by the pandemic, has moved beyond the amber/red threshold figure of 120 cases per 100,000 people.
Those who have spent time in amber countries are required to self-isolate for approximately one week after arriving in Jersey, and need negative results from tests carried out on arrival and five days later.
Anyone who has been in a red country must self-isolate for 14 days.
A fourth country has also been reclassified, with Saudi Arabia downgraded from red to amber status.
The changes follow last Saturday’s move to classify mainland Spain as amber, although the Spanish Balearic and Canary Islands have remained green. The UK has advised that anyone travelling to Spain or its islands would have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their return.
Spain’s latest nationwide active case figure was 49.2 yesterday, while Jersey’s nearest neighbour – France – remained well inside the green threshold in spite of a slight rise in active cases from 14.6 to 17.1 since Monday.
Jersey’s government has said they will continue to monitor the situation in other countries and regularly update the risk register.
The prospect of a self-contained testing lab, able to process up to 2,600 tests every 16 hours, was mentioned by Dr Muscat earlier this month (see JEP of 10 July).
This week a government spokesperson provided a short update, saying: ‘We are in the final stages of confirming an agreement with a supplier. A further announcement is expected in the coming days once finalised.’
Dr Muscat’s initial hopes were that the lab should start to process tests in early August and move up to full capacity in September.
Swab testing for Covid-19 is currently carried out on arriving passengers, essential workers and for those being admitted to hospital or care homes, with the majority of tests processed off-Island.
No new cases of Covid-19 were added to the Island’s total of known active cases as a result of the latest statistics published yesterday. There are currently five known cases, all of which are asymptomatic.
