Covid: Isle of Man lockdown to last until end of March

Current lockdown restrictions on the Isle of Man will be extended by at least a week, the chief minister has said.

The current 21-day circuit break was initially due to end on 23 March.

Howard Quayle said the restrictions "would not be able to end safely" until at least 00:01 GMT on 31 March.

A further 29 new infections have been recorded, taking the number of active cases to 847 with 14 being treated in Noble's Hospital.

The island entered it's third lockdown on 3 March after a surge in cases of unexplained origin.

Mr Quayle said despite having a "cautiously optimistic outlook", the overall length of the lockdown was a "tough question to answer at this stage" and could be extended further if needed.

Confirming the one-week extension would give people more "clarity" over the current situation, he said.

He said although the announcement was "not what you will want to hear", it was the "right thing to do to protect our island's critical services".

Director of public health Henrietta Ewart said although the drop in the daily rate of new cases was "good news", the island was still recording "rather more community cases than we'd expect".

Urging everyone to stay at home as much as possible and follow the rules on social distancing when out for essential purposes, Dr Ewart said it was important to "keep up all the mitigations".

A total of 1,306 people have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic, 26 of whom have died.

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