Hospitality circuit breaker for a month from 4th December in Jersey

Recent surges in Covid cases in Jersey, pubs, bars, and restaurants are set to close from 00.01 GMT on Friday for up to a month amid fears health services could be overwhelmed. Only takeaways and all shops can stay open, but indoor sport and fitness classes and gyms must close and the 2meter distancing law is to be brought back into force.

Chief Minister John Le Fondre said the recent rise in cases on the island presented a real and immediate risk to health services and islander’s lives. The R number was currently between 1.4 and 1.9 which means each case is on average passing infection on to more than one other person. This is too much and we need to introduce more stringent restrictions to protect islanders”. The islanders are told to avoid visiting other people’s homes.

The circuit breaker measure is expected to remain in place until 4 January 2021.

There are currently 331 active cases in Jersey with the majority 231 symptomatic and eight cases being treated in hospital.

Health Minister Deputy Richard Renouf said officials were in “close discussions” with the UK following its approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.