Covid: Jersey students allowed to self-test at home

Tests can be collected from several parish halls

Students and staff in secondary education in Jersey can get free Covid-19 tests for home use.

The lateral flow tests are being offered before schools reopen, with the majority of pupils to return on Tuesday.

The kits contain 25 tests for people to use twice a week at home for 12 weeks, the government said.

Once people register online, the tests can be picked up from several parish halls.

Tests are also available for collection from secondary schools from Monday, "when schools will be open to staff for their training days", the government said.

Parish halls distributing the tests include:

• St Saviour

• St Lawrence

• St Brelade

• Grouville

• St Ouen

• St Helier

• St John

• St Clements

They are also available at the Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department's reception desk at Highlands Campus.

Dr Ivan Muscat, deputy medical officer of health, said regular testing of secondary students and staff "will be crucial in helping us manage the spread of the virus as schools start to return", adding that "Covid-19 has not gone away".

He also asked any children eligible to be vaccinated to do so "as soon as possible".

Education minister Scott Wickenden added that the testing plans were part of "vital" work to "do everything possible for children and young people to attend school".

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