One Year Since Jersey's First Covid Case

Jersey's first case of coronavirus was confirmed exactly a year ago today.

It was a person returning to the island from Italy.

BREAKING: Jersey's first case of coronavirus has been confirmed. https://t.co/KP6q5jzntn

— Channel 103 (@Channel103) March 10, 2020

More than 3200 cases of the virus have been found in Jersey over the last 12 months.

Dr. Ivan Muscat says the first positive test brought the reality of the situation home in no uncertain terms.

"We anticipated that it would come into Jersey of course, but nonetheless, when we did confirm our first case - it hit us that, yes this is indeed the start of the pandemic affecting Jersey."

69 people who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in Jersey have died.

Jersey went into lockdown at the end of March last year, with public health restrictions in place ever since.

BREAKING: Jersey's Chief Minister has called the coronavirus pandemic a 'national emergency' and placed the island under a 30-day lockdown. https://t.co/YhWB5xTosM

— Channel 103 (@Channel103) March 29, 2020

Dr. Muscat says given the lack of knowledge about Covid-19 at that stage, the future was looking very uncertain.

"There was no experience with Covid or a Covid-like agent, so it was a question of moving forward as safely and sensibly as possible in the face of incomplete information."

Jersey came out of lockdown on Monday 11 May and slowly eased restrictions as the summer arrived.

Cases then rose sharply towards the winter, with restrictions re-imposed without returning to a full lockdown.

They've been gradually eased again so far this year, with the island now down to eight known active cases.

Since Monday 8 March, 1 new case has been identified through inbound travel.

The number of active cases in the Island is 8.
4 cases are symptomatic and 4 cases are asymptomatic. 1 is in hospital (-). pic.twitter.com/nPmRi8zKvB

— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) March 9, 2021

The vaccination programme has also begun, with more than 30,000 islanders receiving their first vaccine dose so far.

We've published the latest statistics regarding the number of COVID-19 vaccines delivered as at Sunday, 21 Feb 2021.

The vaccination numbers are published on a weekly basis and reflect data up until the previous Sunday. This is advised by the Independent Statistics Users Group. pic.twitter.com/7rv7u4yGvq

— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) March 4, 2021

Dr Muscat says it has given the light at the end of the tunnel.

"It has also spurred us on to ensure that we remain reasonably cautious as we go forward, to not upset the rollout of the vaccine which is our way out of the Covid pandemic."

A roadmap to recovery has been announced, which if unchanged, would lead to all restrictions being lifted on 14 June.

Dr. Muscat says it's been really encouraging to see islanders work together over the last year - but the work can't finish yet.

"We haven't vaccinated everyone yet, Becky (Sherrington) and her team are vaccinating at a fantastic rate but there is still much more vaccine that needs to be deployed before we are on the safe ground that we want to be on.

"Until we get there, we need to be cautious."

Guernsey's first case of coronavirus was recorded a year ago yesterday.