Coronavirus: Guernsey to ease lockdown further

Public health bosses said Guernsey's coronavirus strategy would remain "test, trace and quarantine"

Lockdown restrictions in the Bailiwick of Guernsey are being eased from Saturday after 15 days of no new coronavirus cases.

The move was being made a week earlier than originally forecast, the States of Guernsey said.

Under phase three, food takeaways can operate, places of worship open for private prayer and the number of people at a funeral be increased, it said.

Phase three was expected to last for up to eight weeks, it added.

It is the latest in the Bailiwick's six-phase lockdown exit framework.

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Deputy Gavin St Pier, chairman of the Civil Contingencies Authority, said the early move into phase three represented "another really positive step forward".

He said the lockdown would be ended "as quickly as we safely can" in a series of "calibrated and controlled steps, not one big leap of faith"

He added that the government would "not hesitate to take a step back if we see unexplained evidence of community seeding or clusters developing".

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said the strategy of "test, trace and quarantine" would remain in place as it "continues to be effective as evidenced in the lack of new positives and the low number of active cases".

The Bailiwick has seven active cases of Covid-19.