A suspected Covid case in the community has turned out to be a false alarm.

Staff from Zurich International were sent home this morning (Thursday) after two employees advised they had been in contact with someone who had tested positive.

The individual, who is not a Zurich employee, had chosen to have the private test done ahead of travelling off-island.

But when a further test was carried out through the government’s testing service, the result came back negative – indicating the first result was a ‘false positive’.

A third test is due to take place on Sunday.

As a precaution, the individual will continue to self-isolate, along with others in their household, pending that third test result.

Tests on four high risk contacts have come back negative. Results on three others are awaited.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle told the weekly Covid press briefing this afternoon that the suspected case ‘was a timely reminder that we must be prepared’.

Meanwhile three further cases of Covid have been detected among individuals who were already self-isolating after travelling back to the island.

Mr Quayle urged island residents to think carefully about travelling off-island, given the deteriorating situation in the UK.

The island headquarters of Zurich International on the Isle of Man Business Park were closed with immediate effect this morning, and staff told to work from home.

This was done as a precaution, said the company, and to allow the offices to be deep cleaned.

Zurich, one of the island’s biggest employers, insisted there are currently no positive Covid-19 cases among its employees.

An email to staff said two employees advised they were recently in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.

‘They alerted us immediately and are now self-isolating for 14 days,’ the email states.

‘As a precaution we have closed the IoM office with immediate effect and this will allow for a full anti-viral deep clean and sanitation of the office over the next 72 hours.’

In a statement, Zurich said: ’The health and safety of our employees is of paramount importance.

’We have followed our internal health and safety protocols and, as a precautionary measure only, we have sent all employees home to work remotely.

’We can confirm that there are currently no positive Covid-19 cases among our employees. Procedures are in place to ensure business continuity.’

Health Minister David Ashford said the reliability of private tests was variable and there was a risk they would return a false positive or false negative result.

He said the government uses a ‘gold standard’ PCR test.