Adam Durbin
BBC News

Guernsey has agreed a reciprocal health agreement "in principle" with the Isle of Man as part of the "air bridge" between the two islands, Deputy Heidi Soulsby confirmed.

However, this still needs to be signed by both jurisdictions, which is expected to be done later this week or early next, she added.

The agreement would enable free emergency care for those travelling between the two island.

It will not include the cost of GPs, dentists or ambulances, apart from air ambulance transport to the UK if needed.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

The Isle of Man is considering implementing similar border controls to those announced by the States of Guernsey on Wednesday, according to a senior Guernsey politician.

Passengers arriving from specific countries into Guernsey will be allowed to self-isolate for seven rather than 14 days following a negative test result, Deputy Gavin St Pier announced.

The island formed an air bridge with the Isle of Man in July, allowing people from both islands to travel freely between the two regions without the need to quarantine.

Some travellers are required to quarantine for a week until they receive a negative test result.

Adam Durbin
BBC News

A few Covid-19 cases or cluster of them in Guernsey does not necessarily mean going back into lockdown, Dr Nicola Brink confirmed.

The director of Public Health said moving back through the phases of lockdown exit would only be necessary if there were concerns they were "unable to cope through the test, track and trace programme".

"We'll be very responsive and adaptive when we look how we manage any case that we might see," she added.

Adam Durbin
BBC News

The States is liaising with travel operators so the number of passengers arriving in Guernsey does not exceed the testing limits of about 600 a day, Deputy Gavin St Pier said.

Public Health currently have the capacity to do about 600 Covid-19 tests a day.

He added this capacity also needs to take into account the priority for testing of symptomatic people on island and pre-operative testing in the hospital.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

No date has been set for when travellers will be able to enter Guernsey without the need to quarantine.

Deputy Gavin St Pier, the Chairman of the Civil Contingencies Authority (CCA), has announced the self-isolation period for some travellers would be cut to seven days from 17 August.

He said those who had hoped for unquarantined travel from September would be "disappointed".

The seven-day test forms part of phase 5b in the island's lock exit strategy, and unquarantined travel would constitute phase 5c.

Phase six will eventually mark a "complete return to pre-covid travel norms", Deputy St Pier said.

He added that the CCA "must continue to plan and resource up so that when the time is right we can move very quickly to unquarantined travel".

Adam Durbin
BBC News

Some people arriving in Guernsey will be required to self-isolate for seven rather than 14 days, the States has announced.

Individuals travelling from certain countries can leave quarantine after a week on receipt of a negative coronavirus test result.

The new rules will come into effect from 17 August.

Countries will be classified into groups A, B and C, relating to their quarantine requirements.

Passengers from England will be given the option for the seven-day test under Category B, however some areas of the UK could still require a 14-day mandatory self-isolation, the States said.

Category C countries, which only the Isle of Man is currently on, require no self-isolation.

Arrivals from Category A areas must still self-isolate for the full two-week period.

This currently includes those arriving from Brittany or St Malo in France, the States added.

Adam Durbin
BBC News

More coronavirus cases are expected to come to Guernsey and the Civil Contingencies Authority expects to be able to manage them with current self-isolation and public health rules in place, Deputy Gavin St Pier said.

If some restrictions become necessary the authority expects to be able to do it in a "targeted way" rather than a full lockdown, he added.

"We must be flexible to a rapidly evolving situation", Mr St Pier said.

BBC Radio Guernsey

The States of Guernsey is asking for volunteers to help run the polling stations during the 2020 election.

Officials said new recruits would be given training in the run-up to the October poll, with more needed than in previous years because of the move to island-wide voting includes the introduction of super polling stations and advanced voting.

Registrar-General of Electors Collette Falla said they were looking for friendly and enthusiastic people who could spare four hours on one or more of the polling days, and would like potential volunteers to get in touch now and register their interest.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Guernsey's education committee wants the planned Guernsey Institute, external to become "a cornerstone of the island's Revive and Thrive strategy".

The Revive and Thrive plans are the first steps in setting out how the island will recover economically within three years from Covid-19.

The committee is pushing for the £51m project - to integrate the College of Further Education, GTA University Centre and Institute for Health and Social Care Studies - to be accelerated to help in the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Committee President Matt Fallaize said he had written to Policy and Resources Committee head Gavin St Pier to make the case for the project to be made one of the States’ main priorities over the next 12 to 18 months.

This would include accelerating investment in a new purpose-built facility at Les Ozouets, which received States’ approval last year.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Planning permission has been given for the development of the Little Chapel site.

A planning meeting on Tuesday saw a unanimous decision made by the political members of the Development and Planning Authority after four-and-a-half hours of discussion.

Included in the agreed on application would be the building of toilets and disabled access, the authority heard.

Other proposals included, external: erecting a gazebo, entrance shelter and toilets; relocating and extending a shed; providing pathways, railings, benches, lighting, cameras and signage, and carrying out landscaping.

There has been a small chapel on the site since 1914 - the current being the third and largest - and in 2016 the property was donated to a charitable trust by the religious order that had owned it.

BBC Radio Guernsey

There could be consequences for the Bailiwick of Guernsey if Southampton Airport is forced to shut down, an Alderney politician has warned.

Last month, the operations director for Southampton Airport, Steve Szalay told BBC Guernsey it was a real possibility, affecting up to 2,000 jobs, if the airport could not extend its runway to welcome new airlines because of the loss of business from the folding of airline Flybe.

Opponents said a longer runway would cause "economic harm" to homeowners affected by noise.

Alderney States member Steve Roberts said it would be disastrous for people of the island who needed medical treatment.

Image source, Southampton Airport

BBC Radio Guernsey

The 14-day isolation period when arriving in Guernsey may be cut to seven days in the next couple of weeks, the island's most senior politician has told the BBC.

Deputy Gavin St Pier also said the economy was back at 97% normal operation.

When asked about isolation, Deputy St Pier said current two-week quarantine rules were not sustainable.

Changes to Guernsey's travel rules are expected to be announced at a States press briefing due at 13:00.

BBC Radio Guernsey

The founder of the Healthspan Group and the Blue Islands airline, Derek Coates, has died at the age of 72.

Mr Coates established the Guernsey-based vitamins and supplement business in 1996.

He was also owner and chairman of Blue Islands, and owned the Vista Group of hotels.

A spokesman asked that his family was given space and privacy to come to terms with their loss.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Mooring fees in Alderney will come back into force from Monday.

Fees were suspended in June to encourage visiting yachts from within the Bailiwick, but will be payable at £20 per night from 10 August.

Alderney States said that, by offering free moorings to water taxis since mid-June, Braye Bay had seen an increase in the number of visiting yachts from the other islands.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Minimising the risk to the public is one of the priorities of police looking into the case of two teenagers who were hospitalised in Guernsey after taking what was believed to be MDMA, a senior police officer has said.

Seven people have been arrested in relation to one of the incidents, and six released on bail.

One of the teenagers, a girl, remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Det Insp Lisa Sylvester, of Guernsey Police, said education was important in cracking down on drug use.

She said: "A lot of our work is family support, helping make adults and children make the right decision and wel ill always say that illegal drugs can cause death and life-changing disabailites."

Kay Langlois
BBC Radio Guernsey

A proper traffic impact assessment for the north of the island should be carried out before any more housing development in the Vale or St Sampson's, a recent meeting of the Vale Douzaine has concluded.

Members of the Douzaine said they came to this view after considering the permissions given by the Development and Planning Authority to the proposed Saltpans site, but before last week's announcement that a planning framework for up to 35 new homes has been approved at the site known as Le Four Banal off Route Militaire.

Members noted that about 1,500 new properties had been earmarked by planners in the Vale and St Sampson's, but that assessing the consequences of increased traffic and parking had been carried out for each individual site and not for the whole area.

Senior Constable Richard Leale said: "Douzeniers were firmly of the view that this is entirely the wrong way of going about things."

A meeting has been scheduled later this month with Development and Planning Authority President Dawn Tindall to discuss some of the issues.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Guernsey Police said it's too early to know whether two girls who were hospitalised over the weekend after taking MDMA had taken a contaminated batch.

A 16-year-old girl remains in critical condition in hospital, while a 19-year-old woman was released on Sunday.

Det Insp Lisa Sylvester, who is investigating the case, said young people "shouldn't take a chance" with illegal drugs because "we don't know what's in them".

She added: "The effects can be life-changing, or even death."

Andrew Segal
BBC South West

People in Guernsey are being told to check their apple, pear and hawthorn trees and look for signs of the plant disease fireblight after it was recently confirmed on the island, the States has said.

The disease, present in the UK and most of mainland Europe, had been considered absent from Guernsey, the States said.

But this recently changed with infection having been confirmed on apple trees and hawthorn in St Peters, as well as hawthorn in the forest.

Typical symptoms included, external blackening of flower clusters, and the withering of young shoots which could take on a scorched appearance. In severe cases, whole branches and entire trees could become infected.

Firethorn, cotoneaster, juneberry, mountain ash, quince and medlar could also infected, the government added.

Anyone who thought they had a infected plant could send samples of infected flowers and shoots to the the States Analytical Laboratory in Longue Rue, St Martin, the States said.

They could also be reported by emailing the Plant Health Inspector, external or phoning 01481 711161, it added.

Image source, Guernsey States