Covid: Isle of Man border 'could fully reopen in September'

The island's border has been closed to most non-residents since March 2020

Border restrictions on the Isle of Man could be lifted entirely in September if the vaccination roll-out stays on track, the chief minister has said.

Howard Quayle said families could be allowed to visit under strict controls sometime between May and August.

A three-phase approach for easing the restrictions would see the island "pivot" from a strategy of elimination to one of mitigation, he said.

Mr Quayle said the exit strategy was one of "balancing risks".

The island's border has been closed to almost all non-residents since March last year.

The progression of the phases would be aligned to the rate of vaccine delivery.

Currently all adults are expected to have received their first jab by the end of May, with their second delivered by the end of July.

People in the top priority groups should have received both doses by the end of June.

'Biggest threat'

Those "key milestones" would enable the government to assess the levels of defence and remaining threat and "adjust our position accordingly", Mr Quayle said.

The "preparation phase" would see "very little change" to the restrictions, as measures are put in place for a "much more profound set of changes" during the "transition phase", when friends and family may be allowed to visit.

Those preparations are due to run into late April.

The "release phase", which is expected to come into force in September, will coincide with the vaccination of the entire population, including children if the vaccine is approved for them, Mr Quayle said.

He said the phases were "not set in stone" and would depend on the supply of vaccine to the island and infection rates in the UK.

The border was the island's "biggest level of defence" and "biggest threat", he added.

The new framework will be debated by Tynwald members next week.