More regional differences in travel rules "in coming weeks"

Saturday 22 August 2020

Covid travel rules could be applied to different parts of the UK and Ireland in the coming weeks.

At the moment, both countries are considered a single entity when it comes to assessing the risk of passengers traveling to Jersey.

The UK is a ‘green country’, while the Republic of Ireland is moving from ‘green’ to ‘amber’ from Sunday.

There are no direct flights from the Republic of Ireland at the moment, but restrictions also cover those whose transit through another country.

Passengers arriving from an amber country are required to undertake two PCR tests on arrival and day five, and isolate until they receive a negative result from their second test.

Greece is also moving from ‘green’ to ‘amber’ from Sunday.

Pictured: Greece will move to 'amber' on Sunday.

A spokesperson said: “The Government is actively looking to expand its regional approach to countries’ risk assessment. This may mean that, in the coming weeks, more countries will be broken down into regions.

"This is already the case with Madeira/Portugal and each individual Canary and Balearic Island/mainland Spain. If this approach is expanded, the Republic of Ireland could be broken down into a county level.”

The Government has already said that they are looking at breaking down the UK into regions, prompted by the northwest and other parts having far more cases of Covid than others.

Pictured: Most positive cases involve passengers who have not flown in from airports in UK Covid hotspots.

The mechanics of this, however, are problematic, as Dr Ivan Muscat, who is leading Jersey's covid response, has previously explained. Most positive cases tested at the Airport, for example, involve passengers who have not flown from Manchester or Liverpool. 

Earlier this week, Deputy Kirsten Morel suggested that risk-assessing passengers by their home address, proved by presenting a utility bill on arrival in Jersey, would be the simplest and cheapest option.

And on Thursday, the risk rating for Spain and the Balearic Islands - but not the Canary Islands - moved from 'amber' to 'red'.

Under Jersey's travel guidance system, countries are generally designated green if they have 0-25 cases per 100,000 people, amber for 25-120, and red for more than 120.