By late yesterday, there were 66 known active cases and 946 in quarantine. No one is receiving treatment for Covid-19 in the Hospital.
Currently, anyone who is considered a direct contact of a confirmed Covid case is required to isolate for a minimum of ten days – regardless of whether they have been fully vaccinated.
In recent days, a number of business leaders, including JPRestaurants chief executive Dominic Jones, have called for the isolation rules for double-jabbed Islanders to be removed, saying the current regime is too strict and unclear.
Many have also claimed the policy jars with the recently introduced travel rule, where double-jabbed arrivals from the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies only face a couple of hours of quarantine – until they get their first negative result – even if they have come from a red-risk zone.
Speaking to the JEP, Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham said that he wanted isolation requirements for fully vaccinated Islanders to be eased, saying that the public had ‘co-operated throughout the pandemic’.
He added: ‘I do not believe that, given the significant level of protection society is offered by the vaccine rollout, it is any longer proportionate or realistic to expect that vaccinated persons and young people should be forced to isolate.’ By late yesterday it was not clear whether the isolation rules were to be scrapped or eased, with contacts required to spend fewer days in isolation.
Meanwhile, new minutes from Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell meetings have shown that External Relations Minister Ian Gorst and Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham wrote to Health Minister Richard Renouf to request the lifting of the Island’s internal restrictions in March ahead of easing travel.
The most recent vaccination statistics show that a total of 118,216 doses have been administered in Jersey – of which 51,610 were second jabs. The figures also reveal that the vast majority of over-50s have now been fully vaccinated.
