COVID-19: 23rd meeting of Joint Monitoring Committee

Another meeting of the Joint COVID-19 Monitoring Committee was held on Saturday 9 January 2021 at the Ministry of State.

The Prince’s Government and members of the National Council discussed the decisions that have been taken and are still to be taken in view of the health crisis and its impact.

Following the Christmas and New Year period, the Committee reached a shared understanding of the situation, with all criteria confirming a resurgence of the epidemic:

-              The daily number of positive cases has increased substantially, with a peak of 40 hit very recently. This has led to a rise in the incidence rate, which now stands at 410 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

-              The positivity rate (ratio of positive cases to number of people tested) is now 7.44% compared with a previous rate of 3.5%.

-              The number of patients who have tested positive and are being monitored at home has reached a new high of 146.

-              The number of patients now being treated on standard hospital wards (in the Respiratory Medicine and other services) is at a high of 18.

-              There are eight patients in intensive care, more than at any point since the beginning of the pandemic.

-              The spread of the virus has reached peak levels in neighbouring areas (Alpes-Maritimes and Liguria).

Under such conditions and to prevent warning signals which have now turned to amber from moving to red, it was considered that additional measures, beyond those agreed on 30 December, would be necessary to reduce transmission of the virus.

Thus, from 11 to 27 January, the start of the evening curfew will be brought forward to 7 pm.

The primary impact of this measure will be that it will no longer be permitted to visit shops, restaurants or gaming rooms, or to attend artistic performances after this time.

Only the usual exemptions will remain in place (travel for work, education or training purposes, for medical reasons, for essential family reasons, to provide assistance to vulnerable people or look after children, to comply with a legal or administrative summons, to take part in public interest activities at the request of the administrative authorities, or brief outings to look after pets).

The vaccination campaign recently launched for the country’s eldest residents was also discussed.

The Government and the National Council are in agreement that vaccination is the solution to ending the pandemic. It will next be rolled out to the over 65s, healthcare workers and the most vulnerable.

Members of the Committee agreed that the situation should continue to be monitored extremely closely so that measures could be adapted at an early stage and on an ongoing basis, as has been the case since the crisis began.

The next meeting of the Joint Committee will be held on Friday 15 January.