The Director of Public Health is advising that all non-essential travel must cease with immediate effect. This follows the decision by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a COVID-19 Pandemic. These pages were last updated on 16 March 2020 at 19.40 hrs.
On 9 March 2020, The Director of Public Health, Dr Nicola Brink, announced the first positive case of COVID-19, in the island. See media release for more details.
Should I self-isolate?
Use the 'should I self-isolate?' button below if you are unsure whether you should self-isolate. Just click the button and follow the simple questions through to the end. This 'should I self-isolate' tool does NOT apply to health and social care workers. Specific advice can be found here.
The self-isolation tool is to assist those who have returned from a group A or group B country in the last 14 days. It does not provide advice for anyone who has flu like symptoms (a cough, sore throat, running or blocked nose, muscle pains, fatigue or a fever) with no travel history. If you have recently developed these symptoms but have not travelled, Public Health Services are advising that you self-isolate until 48hrs after your symptoms have passed.
If you have had your symptoms for a prolonged period of time you may wish to discuss your situation with a health care professional to ensure that you make the best decision for you and the rest of our community.
Two dedicated helpline numbers have been released today for Islanders to use if they have any clinical questions regarding the coronavirus. The numbers are:
01481 756938 and 01481 756969
These two numbers will be manned between 8am and 10pm every day and are being manned by trained call handlers from the Joint Emergency Services Call Centre (JESCC).
Any non-clinical questions that are not answered on this page should be emailed to publichealth@gov.gg
For media enquiries, contact Press Room: pressroom@gov.gg, or (01481) 717022.
The virus was originally referred to as 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus. On 11 February 2020 the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses designated a name to this new coronavirus-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On the same day, the World Health Organization named the disease that is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 as COVID-19.
Testing undertaken by Public Health Services in Guernsey:
| Number of samples tested | Positive results | Negative results | Awaiting results |
| 157 | 1 | 117 | 39 |
Testing for COVID-19 is carried out by a UK specialist laboratory. The increase in demand on the UK laboratories has increased the time it takes to receive confirmed results from the standard 48 hours. For those individuals for whom we are awaiting the results, it is important to emphasize that they could be suffering from flu or another ailment. The delay in results is not an indication of a potential positive result.
