More than 1,200 direct contacts as covid cases near 100

Thursday 24 June 2021

Nearly 1,300 islanders have been named direct contacts of the nearly 100 people in Jersey officially recorded as having covid.

22 individuals with the virus have been detected in the last 24 hours - 17 of which were through contact tracing, with the other five being individuals seeking healthcare.

Of the 98 islanders that have tested positive, 68 of those people are showing symptoms. 

Yesterday, 11 students with covid-19 were detected - one pupil at JCG, one at Victoria College Prep and nine at Victoria College. The latter's Headteacher said in an email to parents and guardians this week that the virus had spread across three year groups.

News of the sharp rise in direct contacts - around 300 more than on Wednesday - comes just a day after the Government announced a major relaxation to its quarantine policy.

Since Wednesday 23 June, 4 individuals have recovered and 22 new cases have been identified. 17 cases have been identified through contact tracing and 5 cases have been identified through seeking healthcare. pic.twitter.com/ayZnq6awQo

— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) June 24, 2021

Under the new rules, anyone who was fully vaccinated was allowed to leave quarantine immediately, provided they had returned a single negative test, and had follow-up tests on days 5 and 10 after being contact traced.

The same isolation rules were also applied to anyone identified as a direct contact in travel-related circumstances. Healthcare workers identified as direct contacts will also be able to leave isolation after a single negative test, but will be subject to daily follow-up tests until day 10.

Meanwhile, Government officials are continuing to work on new rules for children identified as direct contacts. They wouldn't reveal what policy options were on the table when asked by Express, but explained they were attempting to balance children's mental wellbeing with the potential long-term health effects covid might have on them. 

Yesterday, Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr Ivan Muscat MBE said that only "small proportion" of those with covid in Jersey were fully vaccinated - at the time, they accounted for just 10%, of the island's 81 cases.