Police will be able to issue on-the-spot fines of up to £250 for those blatantly infringing stay at home guidelines.
The measure was rushed through during an emergency sitting of the House of Keys today.
Giving his daily Covid update briefing today, Chief Minister Howard Quayle said: ’There have been silly instances that need jumping on.
’That’s why we brought through the legislation in the House of Keys. It’s gone off to the Legislative Council and that will enable the police to do on-the-spot fines of £250 for people breaking it.
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’Now there might be a few minor tweaks by LegCo. The House of Keys did back it strongly.’
Legislation already introduced under the Emergency Powers Act can see penalties of up to £10,000 or three months in prison for those breaking rules on social distancing and self-isolation.
The Chief Minister said: ’If the police feel people are blatantly breaking the rules they can still now go for them for the more draconian up to £10,000 and three months in prison.’
He added: ’I know because we are having sunny weekend we could have problems. The police have committed to being out there with a high profile to stop this happening.
Mr Quayle said our island has changed over the last week. ’Life has fast become very different,’ he said.
Confirmed cases have now reached 114, a rise of 19 on the previous day.
Mr Quayle said some of this increase is because of high level of testing being carried out.
He rejected the suggestion that the figures show the measures being taken by government are not effective.
Mr Quayle told the briefing: ’Much is still unknown about the virus but we do know the incubation period can be long, as long as 14 days.
’You can have the virus for this long time without showing symptoms but during this time you could be infectious to others and spread the virus.
’We need to see it to fight it.
’This period of 21 days will help get us a clearer picture of the scale of the challenge ahead.’
Urging people to stay at home, he said: ’It is not just about you passing the virus to someone else. By staying at home, you may be preventing someone giving the virus to you and your loved ones.’