Deputy medical officer of health Dr Ivan Muscat said that over a third of current Covid-19 cases were among Islanders aged 19 and below. He urged anyone with symptoms to isolate and to book a PCR test, but he also highlighted the importance of self-administered lateral-flow tests.
He said that the LFTs – which pick up the virus in the estimated one-in-three infected people who display no symptoms – offered ‘an extremely effective defence mechanism’ in the winter battle with Covid-19.
As the government explores further options for making test-kits available, Dr Muscat said that the new kits, more sensitive than those issued earlier in the pandemic, would play an important part in limiting winter transmission.
‘They should be used, of course, if people develop symptoms that may be due to Covid, so they may wish to use a lateral-flow test as soon as they develop any symptoms with a view to requesting a PCR test through the helpline to confirm their result if it is positive. They should also do lateral-flow tests as a matter of routine – perhaps twice a week – because, of course, asymptomatic Covid infection does occur, and it will allow infection to be picked up early on before it can spread to others.
‘It would also be very prudent for Islanders to use lateral-flow tests before going to large events, going to parties or visiting vulnerable individuals as an additional safety measure to protect their friends and family,’ Dr Muscat said.
Test kits are currently available free to Islanders aged 12 and over by registering online but Dr Muscat said that the government was exploring other ways of distributing them.
He also stressed the importance of the vaccination programme and the need to vaccinate against both Covid and influenza to avoid the increased threat posed by catching the two simultaneously, or in quick succession.
Although health experts expect the gravity of any fourth wave of Covid to be reduced by the effect of the vaccination campaign, Dr Muscat said that it was important that Islanders responded on a timely basis to the opportunity to refresh their immunity through booster vaccinations currently available – six months after their second jab – to the over-50s and those at particular risk.
But Dr Muscat said that the principal lesson to emerge from the pandemic was the importance of ‘not taking your eye off the ball’, and he said that there would be close monitoring of trends in the period following the move from PCR testing on arrival to self-administered lateral flow tests to see whether what he described as ‘non-restrictive NPIs’ (non-pharmaceutical interventions) should be recommended for reintroduction.
‘There is the possible use of NPIs like working from home or using masks in indoor public spaces, and we are at the moment examining that possible option if the numbers and trends suggest that it would be prudent to amplify the defence provided by vaccination,’ he said.
