More high school year groups have been asked to stay at home amidst a continued problem with staff absences caused by surging Covid cases.

Two hundred and twenty four cases of Covid-19 were detected in the past 24 hours, bringing the total in island to 1,871 on Monday (March 20) – up from 1,749 the day before.

Ten people are in hospital with the virus.

St Ninian’s High School said that the situation with ‘unprecedented high rates of staff absence’ were unlikely to improve this week and instructed years 9 and 10 to stay (and study from) home on alternating days – year 9 on Tuesday (March 22) and Friday, and year 10 on Wednesday and Thursday.

The school said that 25% of its teaching and support staff were currently off.

And at Ramsey Grammar, year 10 will be required to remain at home on Wednesday and Thursday with the school citing ‘a significant and rising number of staff absences making the normal running of the school difficult’.

These absences are understood to not be exclusively caused by Covid, but also include other illnesses.

Meanwhile, while Manx Care cancelled elective procedures last week, this will not be the case this week.

It said: ‘Manx Care confirms that all day procedures are continuing as planned this week.

‘The elective programme is being reviewed daily to ensure that the appropriate staffing and bed levels are met.

‘Manx Care is doing everything they can to facilitate both elective and non-elective demand.’

Social distancing and face mask requirements have returned to healthcare settings as a response to the rise in cases. Manx Care continues to ask all members of the public to voluntarily take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) around 45 minutes to one hour before visiting one of its health and social care settings.