Returning residents will be able to cut their self-isolation from 14 days by booking a Covid-19 test.

The move, which comes into effect on Monday, was announced by Chief Minister Howard Quayle at a press briefing.

But Mr Quayle said the island was not ready to ease border restrictions further just yet. He said: ’We have had to judge the balance of risk. We must recognise there are those who are content with where we are now but also those who are becoming frustrated.’

From Monday there will be an option for returning residents to pay £50 to book a test on or after their seventh day of self-isolation, following the lead of Guernsey.

They will be able to call the 111 hotline to request a Covid-19 test and if the result comes back negative on day eight they will be able to leave their home.

But there will be restrictions to minimise the inadvertent spread of coronavirus in the event of a false negative.

They won’t be able to attend any indoor venues such as restaurants, public houses, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres.

But they will be able to return to work if their employer is happy for them to do so and their role does not involve interaction with the public.

They will also be able to go to the shops for essential items such as food and medicine.

Mr Quayle said testing is not infallible and there can be false negatives and false positives. The restrictions in place for days eight to 14 are there to act as a safeguard, he said.

The Chief Minister said the Manx bubble had enabled us to restore near normality to our lives.

But he said many continue to struggle because of our border restrictions and they were waiting for the border controls to move to level 3 as it would allow close family members to visit.

He said this had been considered at yesterday’s Council of Ministers’ meeting.

But it had been decided that the coronavirus infection levels in the UK were such that we would remain at level 4 for the time being.

He said the UK would need to see an infection rate of one in every 5,000 for us to move to level 3 but it still has a considerable way to go to reach this.

The spike in Covid19 cases in the north west of England was also giving cause for concern, given our close connections and transport links with the region.