It is now mandatory to wear a face covering on public transport and in all health and social care settings.

In a government briefing this evening, Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said it would be ‘mandatory’ to wear a mask on public transport, including on the ferry and on an aircraft, and in hospitals and doctors surgeries.

He also said the government is now ‘expecting everyone to wear a mask’ in other settings, such as retail premises.

‘We do not want to make the non-wearing of masks a criminal offence but we will legislate further if we need to,’ he added. ‘For now we ask everyone to wear them in these indoor public settings. Like the UK we will not be insisting on further measures in hospitality.’

These measures will come into force from 4am on Tuesday, November 30.

The chief minister raised the island’s status within the Covid-19 Winter Framework from level one to alert level two.

Mr Cannan said: ‘We have always said that the emergence of a new mutation could be a potential trigger point, meaning we may have to act and take steps to protect our community.

‘Early evidence suggests there may be a higher re-infection risk with omicron, but there is still so much we do not know.’

A meeting of the National Covid Response Group, followed by a meeting of the Council of Ministers, were organised this morning where they discussed developments regarding the new variant, Omicron.

It was decided that all international travellers who are fully vaccinated arriving from outside the Common Travel Area – that is anywhere outside of the UK, Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey – must self-isolate and have a PCR test within 48 hours of arriving in the Isle of Man.

They must remain in self isolation until they have received the result back. If they are not fully vaccinated they will still be required to undergo the seven day isolation period.

Also, all travellers from within the Common Travel Area, regardless of their vaccination status will have to commit to undertaking a Lateral Flow Test within 12 hours of arrival in the Isle of Man.

All arrivals from within the Common Travel Area will be required to make a clear statement as to their intent and understanding of this new testing requirement on their landing form and we will develop a facility for them to let us know when they have done so.

These measures will also come into force on November 30.

There will also be a change in the government’s position around positive PCR test results that are suspected or confirmed as Omicron.

In these instances, the whole household must immediately isolate for 10 days.

Mr Cannan also confirmed the government is aware of 22 individuals who have travelled to the island and were in southern Africa in the past 10 days.

‘All 22 people have been contacted and those still on the Island have agreed to undergo testing,’ he added. ‘The test results we have so far received back are all negative for Covid-19.’

The chief minister urged the public to take up any offers of a booster vaccine.

He said: ‘In the coming days we can expect to see a significant ramping up of the booster programme in the UK, which we are likely to follow.

‘Vaccines still offer the best possible protection against Covid-19 and it is thanks to them that we have been able to return to relative normality. We do not yet know how effective the current vaccines will be against Omicron, but ensuring our population has the highest level of protection against Covid will help prepare us for a new variant or another wave of infection.’