Residents advised to stay at home after nine new cases of coronavirus identified in Isle of Man

Residents in the Isle of Man are being advised to ''avoid household mixing and to stay at home where possible'' after nine new cases of coronavirus were identified on the island.

The Manx Government said six of the cases relate to the recently identified cluster and all those individuals were already in self-isolation.  Another case was identified in a person who was already self-isolating following travel to the Island. The remaining two cases are yet to be explained, indicating there may a low level of community spread of the virus.

 All individuals will continue to self-isolate with their households and further tests will be offered.

The Council of Ministers, supported by Public Health have decided that the public should be advised to take precautions including avoiding household mixing, staying home where possible, and not to visit a Health and Care setting unless absolutely necessary.

The Chief Minister, Howard Quayle MHK said “There is a risk that there is a level of community transmission, with unexplained cases not linked to the existing cluster, now underway. As a precautionary measure we are asking the public, with immediate effect, to stay at home where possible, stay safe, and avoid mixing households.

We recognise there are a large number of events planned for today and tonight and we would ask all event organisers to postpone these.  

Ultimately, this is a precautionary measure for now and we will continue to review the situation as more information develops.

I will hold a press briefing at 15:00 today to update further on this position, and we will schedule another for tomorrow when we hope to know more information.

For now the advice has to be to exercise caution, be careful, stay safe and stay at home where you can.”

The current number of active cases of COVID-19 on the Island is 49.