10 May 2021
It has been several weeks since our last Press Conference, and I am glad to be speaking to you after what I hope was a safe and enjoyable Liberation weekend for all.
I would like to begin by thanking all Islanders for your continued commitment and adherence to our public health guidelines.
We continue to see high levels of compliance and very low rates of COVID-19 transmission in Jersey.
We should take pride in the good position we find ourselves in.
Because of your efforts, now is the time to further relax restrictions, to reconnect our Island community and to look forward to the summer that we all want to share.
I am pleased to announce the following changes to our Safer Travel Policy, which was reintroduced for inbound travellers from the UK and other Crown Dependencies, last month.
Firstly, following deliberations from STAC, the Competent Authority Ministers have agreed that from Friday 28th May we will begin our Red, Amber and Green classifications for the rest of the World – aligning them as closely as possible with the UK’s traffic light system.
We will also introduce national classifications for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies.
We will be changing the testing requirements for Green arrivals. From the 28th of May, they will be tested on arrival and again on day 8.
Those travelling from Green jurisdictions will still need to self-isolate until their first negative test result. The testing and isolation requirements for Amber and Red arrivals remain unchanged.
We have been able to make these changes thanks to the good position that Jersey finds itself in and given the strong vaccination rollout in the UK.
Revising our classifications will simplify travel to and from Jersey. And I hope this will give greater clarity to Islanders who are looking to travel off Island and receive visitors.
Based on the current case data, England, Wales and Scotland will be classified as Green and Northern Ireland would presently be rated Amber.
We anticipate the downward trend of cases to continue across the UK and we will continue to review and publish updates to these on a weekly basis.
I can also confirm that there will be special provisions for those travelling from the United Kingdom who have been fully vaccinated, and I will ask the Deputy Chief Minister to outline these in just a moment.
This will form part of the 'COVID Status Certification' which we will begin to roll out as soon as possible after the 28th May.
I would like to reiterate my thanks to Islanders. This latest relaxation is only possible thanks to the strong take-up of our vaccination programme and the low rate of cases seen both locally and in the UK. This is your achievement.
I hope the changes we have announced this afternoon will come as welcome news to Islanders.
They have been designed as proportionate changes to our Safer Travel Policy which will help facilitate a summer where Islanders can safely go abroad, and visitors can arrive in Jersey with appropriate controls in place.
As always, we will be keeping all these measures under constant review, and we will react quickly if the need should arise to change them.
I’ll now invite questions from the media.
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