Covid: Future Isle of Man virus outbreak 'inevitable'

Restrictions are due to be lifted at 00:01 BST on Monday

The return of a community spread of coronavirus on the Isle of Man is "inevitable", the chief minister has said.

However, Howard Quayle said progress with the island's vaccination programme meant any future outbreaks would not necessarily lead to a full lockdown.

A raft of restrictions were re-introduced on the island 3 March after a surge in Covid-19 cases with no known source of transmission.

The measures will be lifted on Monday.

The number of active Covid-19 cases on the island has now fallen to 11, none of which are receiving hospital treatment.

Mr Quayle said: "There is every likelihood that Covid will return to our island and it will spread in our community.

"That is inevitable and I need you to be ready for that.

"Thanks to the vaccines, our response when this happens is increasingly going to be very different to what you have seen over the past 14 months."

'Significant threat'

The government's response to any future outbreaks of the virus would become more reliant on people and businesses taking "personal responsibility" for limiting the spread of the virus, he added.

More than 49,000 members of the island's adult population have now received their first dose of the vaccine, and almost 15,500 have been given both jabs.

Mr Quayle said: "In the future it is our goal that restrictions will only be brought in when there is a significant threat of our health services being severely impacted or overwhelmed.

"Our vaccination programme makes this less likely."

A total of 1,575 people have been infected since the start of the pandemic, 29 of whom have died.