Covid: Isle of Man border relaxation plan poses 'significant risks'

The Isle of Man's border has been closed to most non-residents since March 2020

The planned reopening of the Isle of Man's borders on 28 June could pose "significant risks" to the community, a government advisory body has said.

The Emergency Advisory Group was set up to offer advice and recommendations to the Council of Ministers on its strategic response to Covid-19.

The group said current UK transmission rates, particularly the spread of the Delta variant, were of concern.

Government said the advice would "feed into" its final decision.

Health Minister David Ashford said: "We are of course looking very closely at what's happening in the UK around the Delta variant, and also further afield as well, and we'll be able hopefully to make announcements to the Manx public on the direction of travel at some point this week."

'Early warning'

In response to a series of questions posed by the Council of Ministers, the group said the government should "consider early messaging" to alert islanders to the dangers posed by new variants of the virus, and the potential for the border plans to be stalled in response to a spike in UK cases.

The group said: "The EAG sees the current UK Covid-19 case numbers as presenting an early warning.

"If the UK infection rate and hospitalisation rate continues on their current trajectory, the Council of Ministers is advised to reconsider its exit plan."

It added that a minority of its members believed the exit strategy should be delayed by four to six weeks until the vaccination programme had offered full protection to a greater number of people.

At present, only 39% of the island's adult population has received both jabs.

Mr Ashford said a planned ramping up of the delivery of second doses would start this week, and would see the island "overtake the UK in the next couple of weeks".