After the Isle of Man lifted all coronavirus restrictions on February 1, some social media users suggested that the move was a ploy to make British people believe they could achieve the same level of freedom if they complied with the restrictions.
However, the measures were removed because the transfer from the community was eliminated after a 25-day lock-up, not as a result of an organized plan by the government.
The Isle of Man is the first place on the British Isles that has completely lifted COVID-19 restrictions, including social distance.
‘It seems strange that they made a leap overnight from masks, quarantine and social distance to no restrictions !!’, writes one Facebook entry in response to the news (here).
‘The official line is the bowman left, so that everything can become normal again, but since other areas are told that it will be normal, not even after the vaccination ….. it seems strange ??? Anyone throwing light ??? ”
Some users claim that it is a stunt to get people to comply with the strict coronavirus measures in Britain.
For more than six months in 2020, however, the Isle of Man enjoyed an absence of social distance measures, as coronavirus cases remained close to zero during most of the summer and fall (here) (here).
During the period of the pandemic, the island actually spent more time without major restrictions than with.
Even in December, it was reported that residents had non-socially distributed Christmas services (here).
But in early January, a 25-day “power outage” was called after the government tracked down a group of cases (here).
This exclusion was ultimately successful in stopping the spread of the virus through the community, allowing the restrictions to be lifted again on February 1 (here).
Government figures show that since January 18 (here, here) no cases of COVID-19 have been found in the community.
Two cases were detected on January 29, but both were from individuals who were isolated after traveling to the island (here) (here).
“After almost a month of exclusion, this is the moment we have all been waiting for. The Isle of Man has reached the local elimination of the virus for a second time, which means that the spread of the COVID-19 in the community is extremely low, “Howard Quayle, Minister of the Isle of Man, said in a statement. said.
“We beat the virus once and it did us again” (here).
This, together with the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine (www.gov.im/covidvaccination), means that the logical next step was to lift the restrictions. The Isle of Man has recorded a total of 434 cases of COVID-19, including 25 deaths, since the onset of the pandemic (here).
VERDICT
Missing context. Restrictions on the Isle of Man were removed for the second time because the transmission of the virus was eliminated by the community after a 25-day closure. In the wake of the pandemic, the island spent more time without social distance measures than with it.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.