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Covid Omicron Variant: How New Rules Affect Isle Of Wight

New Covid restrictions have come into effect this morning, once again making it compulsory to wear a face covering on public transport and in shops on the Isle of Wight.

A statement from Wightlink said:

"Customers must wear face coverings on car ferries and FastCats and at ports and terminals, unless they are exempt."

The Wightlink website is being updated to reflect the change in legislation.

Leanna Lakes, operations director at Red Funnel, said:

“Face coverings (are now) mandatory for customers and team members on board and within our terminals.

"Customers (may) remove face coverings to eat and drink.

"The safety of our teams and passengers is our priority and we will continue to be led by government recommendations to ensure we are able to provide essential travel services in the safest possible environment.”

Richard Tyldsley, Southern Vectis general manager, said:

“We must ask those on-board to follow the government’s latest instructions.

"Some people are exempt because they have certain physical or mental illnesses. Not all of these conditions are visible to others - so we ask that people are patient and considerate whilst travelling with us. 

“There are no other restrictions at this time, and I’d like to remind customers that all of our buses are cleaned regularly with extra focus on high touch points. There is hand sanitiser on-board, and we accept contactless payments.”

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