England to go simply red as Ministers respond to variant

Thursday 17 June 2021

The whole of England will turn ‘red’ from Tuesday 29 June as Jersey's Government responds to the Delta variant - but for double vaccinated people that still only means isolation until a negative border test.

With the number of cases and direct contacts continuing to rise, Ministers wanted to take action – but not immediately as they want to give islanders and visitors more notice to respond to the news, changing travel plans if needs be.

To bridge to a week on Tuesday, when England turns completely red, a final ‘emergency brake’ list of 103 regions (a rise of 49) will come into play on Tuesday 22 June.

This approach, the Chief Minister said, "continues to try to balance the need of connectivity to the island and managing public health risk."

49 additional emergency brakes will be issued for UK nations today to come into effect on Tuesday 22 June at 00:01. No further updates will be made before Tuesday 29 June.

For travel classifications, visit: https://t.co/x8zd1arjTP

https://t.co/BpYYXyuURn pic.twitter.com/5JggGk9Lrl

— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) June 17, 2021

They have, however, chosen not to reintroduce regional classifications, arguing that breaking down the UK into whole countries provides clarity and certainty to travellers, after hearing feedback that the previous system, which divided the UK up into more than 220 local authorities and councils, was confusing and complicated.

England joins Scotland in being classified as red while Wales and Northern Ireland remain green.

From this coming Tuesday, all children aged under 18 will be classified as ‘green’ arrivals regardless of where they travel from. This removes the problem of a child coming from a ‘red’ area having to isolate for 10 days while his double-vaccinated parents didn’t have to.

Classifications for countries outside the Common Travel Area will follow the UK traffic light system, save the countries with which Jersey has direct connections and applies its own ratings: the Republic of Ireland, France, Madeira, Majorca and Germany. 

It was also confirmed this evening that anyone travelling to Jersey via the UK from a country listed on its red list will not be allowed to travel immediately to the island - they will be required to isolate in the UK on arrival, regardless of vaccination status. 

"This will mean entering Managed Quarantine at their own cost," the Chief Minister said.

Pictured: How Jersey's travel map for the UK will look from 29 June.

Jersey's arrivals testing and quarantine requirements remain the same. When England goes red, double-vaccinated travellers from a red region will only need to isolate until their first negative result. Those coming from red zones who have not received both doses of the vaccine, however, will have to isolate for at least 10 days, returning negative results to covid tests on arrival, day 5 and day 10.

Travellers still need to declare their 14-day travel history and will face isolation and testing requirements based on the highest classification of all the places the passenger stayed during that period.

The news came on the same day EasyJet announced three new routes to Jersey, and days after Wizz Air said it would be snapping up two former Flybe routes to the island. 

Responding to today’s announcement, CI Travel Group Managing Director Robert Mackenzie said: “Seeing how cases were going up in England, the move to turn the country completely red is not that surprising.

“Fortunately, with a lot of people – both UK visitors and islanders – double-vaccinated, England turning red had less of an implication than would have otherwise been. 

“It is good news about children because that was really concerning. It had to change, because the idea of children isolating while their parents were free to go out didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Also this afternoon, Ministers confirmed that the lifting of the last covid restrictions – allowing stand-up drinking, nightclubs to open, and more than 20 people to gather in private homes and gardens – has also been delayed by two weeks, until 5 July. However, this could be put back again if case numbers continue to climb. 

A spokesperson for the Jersey Hospitality Association said the group had mixed feelings about the announcements.

They commented: “We are really disappointed that our industry will not be returning to more normal levels of business, but we understand that these latest announcements are about keeping people safe and are for the good of the island. We have seen cases rise in recent days and, once again, the contact tracing system has been proven to be extremely effective.

"As has been widely reported, there are certain details in the regulations that needed to change. The JHA, along with others, asked the Competent Authority Ministers to amend them so that for families arriving from the UK and Ireland, children under 18 do not need to isolate, and we are pleased those changes have been made.

"We would like to see further progress on removing the requirement for fully vaccinated people to isolate when contact traced. Jersey has made huge progress in rolling out the vaccination programme and there has to be a point where we acknowledge that covid is not going anywhere.

"The JHA is questioning whether we are doing the right thing by further delaying reconnection and restricting who can come here. If people are safe, and we have protected those who are vulnerable, then the Government must weigh up whether it is prepared to continue to damage businesses, livelihoods and islanders' mental health.”