10 June 2021
Competent Authority Ministers have agreed changes to the Safer Travel Policy. The updates have been agreed in view of the changing COVID situation in the UK, following advice from Public Health, and in consultation with the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell (STAC).
From Tuesday, 15 June 2021 at 00:01, the following changes will come into effect for passengers arriving in Jersey from the UK:
- the UK will move to a Green and Red classification only, with the removal of Amber from the traffic light system. The new Green classification will cover the previous Green and Amber classifications.
- fully vaccinated passengers arriving from a Red area in the UK will be able to enter Jersey as a Green arrival under the new COVID Status Certification scheme. This means a test on day 0 (arrival), with isolation until a first negative result, and a further test on day 8.
Fully vaccinated passengers (within the CTA), arriving from any Red area, will be able to enter Jersey as a Green arrival under the new COVID Status Certification scheme.
This means a test on day 0 (arrival), with isolation until a first negative result, and a further test on day 8. Green, Amber and Red classifications will continue to apply to International Travel.
The following areas of the policy remain unchanged:
- international classifications for the rest of the world will remain aligned to the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre traffic light system, except for countries where Jersey has direct connectivity. This means Green, Amber and Red classifications will continue to apply for International travel.
- individual national classifications for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Crown Dependencies remain.
- fully vaccinated passengers arriving from a Green area in the UK will be able to enter Jersey as a Green Light arrival, meaning a test on day 0 with no isolation.
- the testing and isolation requirements for unvaccinated passengers from Green and Red regions remain unchanged.
- red emergency brakes will continue to be applied to areas of concern at a Lower Tier Local Authority regional level on a twice weekly basis, should brakes be needed.
- any emergency brakes announced on a Tuesday will come into effect at 00:01 the following Friday. Any emergency brakes announced on a Thursday will come into effect at 00:01 the following Sunday.
- the children’s travel policy remains unchanged.
To qualify for a Green travel history, travellers must have spent the previous 14 nights in a Green area.
The new national classifications for the UK will show:
- England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man classified as Green
- Scotland classified as Red
28 additional emergency brakes have been agreed for areas of the UK where a rise in infection rate or an outbreak of COVID has been identified. The additional emergency brakes will come into effect on Sunday, 13 June at 00:01.
These regions are:
Staffordshire Moorlands, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Blackpool, Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Tameside, Trafford, Reading, Wokingham, Luton, Camden, Hackney, Islington, Newcastle upon Tyne, Liverpool, Sefton, Warrington, Wirral, Wyre, Lancaster, West Lancashire, Birmingham, Bradford, Leeds.
All the existing 26 emergency brakes have been reviewed and will remain in place for a further two weeks.
Options for further travel relaxations later in the summer will be reviewed by STAC and CAM in due course once vaccination levels provide greater protection for Islanders and the dynamics of the Delta variant are fully understood.
Deputy Chief Minister, Senator Lyndon Farnham, said: "When making decisions about our Safer Travel policy, Ministers try to balance the need to maintain connectivity with the UK with managing the risk to public health. While there has been a slight up-tick in known active cases in Jersey, we know that the people who are testing positive are, in general, younger and therefore less likely to become seriously ill with the virus. The vaccine is working to protect the more vulnerable.
“Vaccination coverage is good in both Jersey and the rest of the Common Travel Area, and we will continue to allocate Emergency Brake status to areas of the UK that have particularly high or rising numbers of Delta Covid cases.
“We have carefully reviewed the data from Jersey and across the UK, with advice from Public Health officers and STAC members. We have added 28 more Emergency Brake areas to our travel classifications, so we believe moving to Green and Red areas, without the Amber classification, will make the system simpler and clearer without posing undue risk for Islanders.
“Bearing in mind the efficient testing and contact-tracing processes in operation here, we believe these changes are proportionate and will maintain connectivity while also protecting Islanders.”
“Travellers still need to declare their 14-day travel history when completing their pre-departure forms, and all arriving passengers are advised to check the up-to-date classifications of where they have stayed in the past 14 nights. The testing and isolation requirements will be based on the highest classification of all the places a passenger stayed during that period.
“We will continue to review our Safer Travel policy to ensure we keep pace with the fast-changing situation in the UK and further afield.”
Assessment criteria
The Republic of Ireland, France, Madeira, Majorca and Germany are the countries where Jersey has direct connectivity and will be assessed using the Government of Jersey's own ratings.
Criteria for the emergency brakes are calculated based on:
- 14-day case rate greater than 200 per 100,000 in the population
- 14-day case rate greater than 120 (Red threshold) and weekly rate of increase greater than 50%
- 14-day case rate greater than 75 and weekly rate of increase greater than 100%
- Public Health intelligence provided by Public Health England regarding the presence of variants of concern.
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