Covid: Isle of Man's Covid outbreak will 'burn itself out'

Lockdown restrictions were reintroduced on the island on 3 March

The Isle of Man's latest coronavirus outbreak will "burn itself out" but new cases within households are expected to continue to crop up for now, the Manx director of public health has said.

The island entered its third lockdown on 3 March, with cases peaking at 881 on 21 March.

That number has since fallen to 49 and more than 700 people remain in isolation.

Dr Ewart described an unexplained case on 30 Match as "disappointing".

However, she said there was no indication of further uncontrolled spread from it and most transmission was now taking place within homes where people were already isolating.

She said that would "carry on until it burns itself out and there are no more household members left to become infected".

Infections within isolating households had a "natural end point" and should not "lead to reseeding in the community", she said.

"We can be confident so long as people observe their self-isolation that those chains of transmission are contained."

As the time since the last unexplained case was recorded increases, health officials could be more assured that "that case didn't represent a reservoir of community transmission and other cases," she added.