Covid: Isle of Man 'still on track' to drop all legal restrictions

All remaining Covid legal restrictions are due to be dropped on the island on 31 March

The Isle of Man is "still on track" to drop all Covid legal restrictions at the end of the month, the health minister has said.

It follows a recent surge in cases, which led to Manx Care reintroducing measures at all health and care sites.

Lawrie Hooper said that the latest rise in infections was expected as the virus "hasn't gone away".

He said he was confident people would respond to the removal of the remaining restrictions in a "very sensible way".

Although the legal isolation requirements for those who test positive will be removed on 31 March, people will still be advised to take measures to protect others from the virus.

As a result, public health messaging would "step up" ahead of the "new world from April", Mr Hooper said.

"Covid is still with us and living with Covid means exactly that," he added.

'Last resort'

The health minister said the key concern would continue to be "protecting the capacity of the health service", and facilities like schools and hospitals would be able to make independent decisions on the measures implemented in future.

However, he said if a new variant were to become a significant threat, the return of legal restrictions would be the "very last step" and a "last resort".

He said: "The chance of going back into those quite strict, stringent legal restrictions is quite low, simply because I'm expecting a very positive response from the Manx public."

"I'm not convinced that we need legal restrictions... to encourage people to do what is essentially the right thing."

People "by and large do the right thing anyway", he added.