The Emergency Advisory Group (EAG) have criticised the government for giving them five minutes’ notice that they would want to hear their view on the proposed changes to the Public Health regulations.

The group shared its ’profound disappointment’ at the short notice to give its view on the fact the island had an infection rate of 277 per 100,000.

An interim advice paper was released today summarising the issues at hand before providing a detailed advice paper on the regulations.

This follows Tynwald members rejecting the government’s attempt to move the proposed new regulations on Thursday afternoon.

Tynwald members said they wanted to hear from the EAG before debating the changes.

Its first issue was that the Delta variant is now ’well established in the Isle of Man’ and community transmission is ’uncontrolled’.

It said: ’There are no domestic mitigations in place, except for those in healthcare and other high-risk settings.

’These regulations speak primarily to border related controls which appear to be belated in the context of the current infection rates.

’For context, in Europe, only Cyprus, Gibraltar, the UK, Netherlands and Spain are higher.’

The EAG’s document also explains decisions regarding the appropriate vaccination status for entry to the island and the designation of countries as ’safe’ for unrestricted entry should only be made after taking ’clear and explicit advice from the Director of Public Health [Dr Henrietta Ewart]’.

It added: ’The EAG would urge CoMIN to amend the regulations to reflect this.’

Finally, the group repeated its view shared in its first advice paper, that given the current rate of spread of the virus in the island, CoMIN should introduce clear recommendations and strong guidance on mitigations for use in public places and lower risk settings.

It continued: ’These include the use of face coverings in places like supermarkets, shops and hospitality settings.

’Masks should be mandatory on public transport. The impact of well-ventilated spaces on reducing the spread of Covid should also be clearly communicated and those in an office environment should be encouraged to reduce the number of face-to-face meetings where possible.’