Isle of Man Chief Minister reveals how island is covid-free
The Isle of Man has now brought an end to all coronavirus control measures. Social distancing no longer needs to be observed and all hospitality venues have reopened after the island reported no new cases of Covid-19 over the past 20 days. Express.co.uk puts together a guide to explain the ongoing travel rules following the end of the island’s circuit-breaker lockdown.
Coronavirus restrictions have been lifted on the Isle of Man after the island recorded 20 days with no unexplained community cases.
Healthcare services have now returned to normal and schools have reopened.
All shops, pubs and restaurants have also now reopened.
The measures were scrapped after a 25-day lockdown came to an end on the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man is now the only place in the British Isles which does not have a social distancing policy in place.
Face masks are also no longer legally mandated in many areas.
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According to the Isle of Man coronavirus dashboard, there have been 434 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the island.
There are 11 active cases in the area, with four of those related to travel.
The Isle of Man has undertaken a total of 28,172 tests during the pandemic and 25 people have died from Covid-related causes.
Of those deaths, seven took place in hospitals, compared to 18 in the community.
In total, the Isle of Man has undertaken 8,573 vaccinations across the region, with an additional 6,269 vaccinations booked to take place in the future.
Manx Chief Minister Howard Quayle said the ending of Covid-19 restrictions was “a moment for relief and celebration”.
Mr Quayle added the lifting of the circuit breaker restrictions was a result of “collective determination, sense of duty, and community spirit of Manx people”.
However, he urged people to “remain vigilant” because the virus could return again.
On-island restrictions have been entirely lifted, but border restrictions are another issue.
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Can you visit the Isle of Man?
Travel to the Isle of Man is currently restricted.
The border is closed to all non-residents, with the exception of key workers and those with a compassionate exception.
The compassionate exception includes the following reasons:
- To attend a funeral of an immediate family member;
- To undertake the process of resolving the estate of a recently deceased immediate family member;
- To travel with the remains of a deceased family member where a post mortem is to be or has been carried out in the United Kingdom;
- To care for a frail, bereaved or otherwise vulnerable immediate family member;
- To allow a frail, bereaved or otherwise vulnerable person to travel to the Island to be cared for by a resident family member;
- Where a person can demonstrate they have strong existing ties to the Isle of Man, and need to return to the Island for compelling personal health, safety or financial reasons;
- Where immediate family members wish to travel with or to join a person exempted for entry into the Isle of Man.
Can people from the Isle of Man visit the rest of the UK?
Despite coronavirus rules being eased on the Isle of Man, the Isle of Man Government currently advises travel from the island should be undertaken for essential reasons only.
The Isle of Man website reads: “The advice at the present time is that Isle of Man residents should not travel unless it is absolutely necessary.”
You can find out more about the travel advice for the Isle of Man here.
Many social media users were quick to express their happiness for residents of Isle of Man, with many wishing they were residents of the island.
One person wrote: “Got to be honest. I didn’t know that New Zealand and the Isle of Man would be the places I’d most desperately like to live as an adult. I thought it was going to be Rome but we live and learn.”
Another tweeted: “I am so jealous of everyone who lives on the Isle Of Man, dreammmming of the day things return to normal again”.
Another social media user added: “Amazing to hear that the Isle of Man is covid free and open freely with no masks or distancing. I am supposed to be visiting in May. I hope I will be able to. Well done IOM, a great example”.
Some people criticised the UK Government’s management of the crisis in light of the outcome on the Isle of Man.
One person wrote: “We don’t have to look very far to see how things have gone very wrong with our on/off/on lockdown approach – Isle of Man”.
Another added: “Did anyone see the Isle of Man on the news? They were 6 months Covid free last year and had a 20-day firebreak in January after a couple of cases. Yesterday they reopened the pubs. Life is normal. Why? Because they shut the borders day one. @BorisJohnson”.
On Twitter, one social media user wrote: “Boris SHUT THE BORDERS!! Look at the Isle of Man! New Zealand They did, now look at them they are living a normal life! You say your sorry people have died but then your still letting people come here without testing PLEASE SHUT BORDERS”.
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