Rapid covid test kits offered to all direct contacts

Wednesday 08 September 2021

Direct contacts of people with covid will now be offered 10 days’ worth of rapid covid tests, which can provide results in as few as 20 minutes.

The kits will be provided to direct contacts when they go to the harbour drive-through for their initial PCR test.

Those results can then be submitted via an online portal.

Anyone that gets a positive result is asked to call the covid-19 hotline to book a further PCR test.

Household direct contacts and people in critical services have already been receiving kits, but this change affects all other direct contacts.

Deputy Medical Officer of Health, Dr Ivan Muscat MBE, said the tests were proving “particularly efficient at detecting the delta variant.”

“These tests are designed for rapid results and are simple enough to be done at home. Lateral flow tests can quickly identify covid-19 infections, especially if an individual is highly infectious,” he said.

“By offering all direct contacts these tests, we can ensure that the virus remains more manageable within our island community.” 

According to the latest stats, 303 people in Jersey have covid, and there are more than 1,000 direct contacts.

There has been a slight upward trend in the number of cases being detected in Jersey, with yesterday's stats showing 40 individuals testing positive for the illness against just 15 recoveries.

Pictured: Jersey's 14-day case rate over the course of the pandemic. (GoJ)

The majority of people were seeking healthcare, 15 were identified via inbound travel, two were detected during admissions screening and seven via contact tracing.

Jersey's 14-day case rate per 100,000 population currently stands at 338.59.