Islanders reminded of the importance of accurate contact-tracing information

28 September 2020

Contact-tracing teams are looking into the circumstances surrounding four people who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this month and who had all visited the same venue.

All four individuals visited the venue on the 16 and 17 September, with two visiting together at the same time and the other two visiting separately and at different times. All direct contacts of the four have been identified, tested and are in isolation.

Two of the four positive cases arrived from London on different flights and went into isolation in Jersey once they received their positive results as part of the border testing programme. They are not allowed to travel and must remain on Island until the 14-day quarantine period is complete. All known direct contacts of these two people have tested negative to date.

The third case was identified when back in the UK after visiting family in Jersey and developed symptoms some days later and then tested positive. The fourth case was a family member that this person had been visiting in Jersey, who then tested positive as a household contact. Two further members of the household have now tested positive. All symptomatic individuals are better or improving.

Using contact-tracing information collected by the venue, other people in the venue at the same time are being contacted and will be tested, where appropriate. Other venues visited by the positive individuals are also being assessed in keeping with Government protocol.

The Deputy Medical Officer of Health, Dr Ivan Muscat, said: “This shows our test and tracing works. We have systems in place to identify contacts of people who test positive, and these cases demonstrate that we can respond quickly to minimise the risk of further cases.

“The venue visited by the four people has an excellent contact-tracing system in place and was able to share all required information at speed. This is as a timely reminder of the importance of all Jersey venues collecting accurate data on every customer, and of individuals cooperating with the authorities when asked to self-isolate as a direct contact of a positive case.”