The Council of Ministers is meeting today to decide on giving the final go-ahead to the lifting of all Covid-19 legal restrictions at the end of this month.
It comes as the island’s total case figures surpass 2,000 with 409 being recorded in the 24 hours between Monday (March 21) and Tuesday alone. There have been only five days throughout the whole of the pandemic where more than 400 cases have been reported in a single day.
At the time of going to press the total stood at 2,028, with 288 new cases detected in the past 24 hours (before March 23).
Although this was a large recent case surge, by comparison there were 576 cases detected in one day on December 30, 2021.
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That period – the peak of the Omicron wave – also saw the island’s highest number of total recorded cases, 2,750 on January 4.
However, it is important to note that it is difficult to compare recorded case figures at throughout different times of the pandemic – as during the earlier Alpha and Delta waves all cases had to be detected by PCR test.
Lateral flow tests did not become widely available in the island until last summer.
Hospitalisations are currently relatively low at seven – and no one has had to undergo treatment in intensive care for some weeks.
March 31 had been announced in February as the date on which the Isle of Man would move to treating Covid as ‘endemic’ – defined as there being ‘persistent, low or moderate levels’ of the disease.
Jersey’s government has made the decision to postpone the island’s final releasing of restrictions until the end of April, amid fears over a rise in cases which has brought the total there to well over 2,000.
Jersey had also planned to relax restrictions at the end of March, but this was delayed on the advice of senior health officials and to allow the spring booster programme to make progress.
High schools in the Isle of Man have been experiencing mass staff absences – as high as 25% at St Ninian’s this week – resulting in whole year groups needing to study from home on alternating days. Castle Rushen is requiring year 10 to stay home today (Thursday) and Year 9 to stay home Friday (March 25).
The Department of Education is understood to not have been implementing any specific contingency plans in schools, but rather leaving it up to individual schools to decide which year groups to send home.
Manx Care has reintroduced masks in healthcare settings, with elective surgeries being reviewed daily. Procedures were cancelled last week, but went ahead as planned this week.
The spring Covid vaccination booster programme will launch next week, where those eligible will be able to receive their second booster dose.
The planned end of restrictions on March 31 will mean that there is no longer a legal requirement for people infected with Covid to self-isolate.
They will instead be advised to stay home until two days after their symptoms have gone away. Those who do leave their home will be ‘strongly advised’ to wear a face covering.
At the border, there will be no public health checks on people arriving. How much longer travel declarations will also be discussed by the Council of Ministers.