Covid: Omicron variant will reach Isle of Man, health boss says

A total of 22 people have been identified as having recently travelled to southern Africa

The new Covid-19 variant of concern will get to the Isle of Man "eventually", the director of public health has said.

Tighter border restrictions and mandatory face coverings in some places were announced on Sunday.

Henrietta Ewart said the new measures, due to come into force on Tuesday, would help to "buy time" but would not prevent the arrival of Omicron.

A total of nine cases have been recorded in the UK since Saturday.

Dr Ewart said it was "difficult to say" if the variant had already arrived on the island.

Genotyping processes available to the government as part of the PCR testing system would be able to identify variants not already detected, she said.

Omicron was first reported in South Africa, but cases have been detected in countries across the world, including England, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Israel and Hong Kong.

Dr Ewart said it was "encouraging" that test results for those on the island known to have recently visited southern Africa had so far come back negative but it was only a matter of time before the new variant did emerge.

She said: "It will get here eventually, just as all the preceding variants have, including Delta… we know that that will happen."

Booster programme

There are currently 620 active cases of the virus on the island, with four people receiving treatment at Noble's Hospital.

Dr Ewart urged anyone eligible to come forward to have their coronavirus booster jabs.

She said: "It is pretty certain that [vaccines] will still be useful against the variant."

About 18,600 booster doses have so far been administered on the island, which is almost 40% of those who are eligible under current guidelines.