Covid-19: New strains 'suspected' to be in Guernsey

Guernsey has 277 active cases of Covid as a result of the latest outbreak

New strains of coronavirus may be responsible for the rising number of cases in Guernsey, the director of public health has warned.

Guernsey went into lockdown on 23 January after four cases of coronavirus were discovered.

The island now has 277 known active cases, five of whom are in hospital.

Dr Nicola Brink said she "suspects" a new strain of the virus is on the island "based on how it's behaving and how far the spread has occurred".

The director of public health said they were awaiting further analysis from UK labs after submitting Covid-positive samples.

"Exactly what variant we've got here is of interest to us, but it's not going to fundamentally change our approach to managing this outbreak," she said.

A UK-based variant was first detected in September, with a different strain having also been identified in South Africa.

'Phased approach'

Over the weekend 93 new cases of coronavirus were identified in Guernsey, 16 of which have an unknown community source.

Dr Peter Rabey, Guernsey's Medical Director, said only one person with the virus was being treated in intensive care.

Since 6 September, there have been 333 cases of Covid in the island.

Schools are set to remain closed to all children until 8 February in order to minimise transmission.

Dr Brink said there would need to be at least seven days without any signs of community transmission before lockdown restrictions were eased.

"That'll show us that we have the outbreak under control, but as ever we'll do a phased approach," she said.

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