Speech by the Minister for Economic Development on Safer Travel Policy

08 July 2021

We are in a good place, thanks to the hard work of all the teams in vaccination, testing, contact tracing and our wider health services.

At the weekend we said we would be asking officials to review the Safer Travel Policy in light of the changes we were making to isolation requirements for direct contacts.

The current positivity rate for arrivals at the border is far lower than for direct contacts on-island - so we need to amend our approach.

We need to provide certainty for the younger age groups who have not yet been able to obtain full vaccination, including our university students and younger family members returning to the Island.

We need to provide clarity for our transport partners and our visitors.

And we need to provide reassurance for local businesses and their employees.

As our vaccination coverage continues to grow, we need to ensure that our policies reflect the progress we are seeing.

With the increased protection afforded to islanders, it is important that we do not allow the restrictions to become more harmful to our wellbeing than the virus itself.

So, from Tuesday 13th July, the Safer Travel Policy will be updated to make things simpler for islanders and for visitors.

Countries and regions will no longer be assessed based on a traffic light system.

Travellers will no longer need to declare their 10-day travel history, and instead testing and isolation requirements will be based on vaccination status.

Passengers who are fully vaccinated will only be required to undergo one test on arrival and will NOT be required to isolate.

Passengers who are NOT fully vaccinated will need to be tested on arrival and on Day 8, and will need to isolate until their first negative test result is received.

There is one exception to this rule.

Currently, anyone who arrives from the UK's Government International restricted list will have to isolate for 10 days.

It's absolutely critical that we all continue the enhanced hygiene habits that have become second nature to us.

Keep washing and sanitising your hands. Keep a distance from people outside your household. And if you have any symptoms, stay home and call the Coronavirus Helpline.

In the meantime, I wish to thank every single Islander for their continued support.

Thank you.